OU football ticket scam

Tulsa Police investigators say someone is playing a nasty trick on fans in Oklahoma and Texas. He took a Tulsa couple for more than a thousand dollars. <br/><br/>News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright

Thursday, September 16th 2004, 9:46 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa Police investigators say someone is playing a nasty trick on fans in Oklahoma and Texas. He took a Tulsa couple for more than a thousand dollars.

News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright says the scam works because so many people want OU football tickets and because this guy sounds legit.

He says he's an Edmond doctor with season tickets to sell. The problem is, Tulsa Police say it's all a lie. But by the time you learn the truth; he's got your money and is gone faster than Antonio Perkins headed for the end zone.

Gina Cipert and her husband are like other OU fans are always scrambling for tickets. So, when they saw an ad on a web site for tickets, they were thrilled. "It just said he had four OU-Texas tickets to sell, that he needed to get rid of. We agreed on a price and e-mailed back and forth a couple of times."

In one e-mail, the man said he had business in Tulsa so he'd stop by and pick up the $1,050 check. He gave the couple paperwork that showed where the seats were. They didn't expect to get the tickets until the middle of September.

When that came and they had no tickets, they called the phone number. It was disconnected. Then they tried the e-mail address and it was no longer in existence. The couple picked Michael Brunton[pictured] out of a police line-up.

Investigators say he also goes by Robert Kates, Mitchell Ward and Mitchell Brunton and this isn't the first time he's done this. Sometimes he pretends to be a doctor, even showing up in scrubs. He used to have season tickets, but not anymore.

Sgt Tony Celino, Fraud Unit: "I've got to have more victims in Tulsa. He has relatives in the Tulsa area and if he's done this to them, he's for sure done it to others."

The Ciperts probably won't get their money back which means they won't be buying any more tickets to the big game. â€œI would just like to see him stopped. People get their hopes up and it's a lot of money. We had already sold the other two, so we're out the whole thousand dollars."

Police say Brunton's taken $80,000 from people in this OU ticket scam in the past year. He's not been arrested or charged yet.

The News on 6 found out he is being sued by several people.

The Cipertâ€™s suggest you research whoever is selling you tickets, even call the University to confirm they have season tickets and don't hand over money until you have the tickets.

Any other victims in the Tulsa area need to file a report and send police copy of their check.