SPOKANE, Wash – Spokane Valley detectives are trying to find a man they say scammed a woman out of $8,000 by pretending to sell her Gonzaga men’s basketball tickets.
The investigation began in January when a woman tried to buy tickets from a man who said his name with Thomas Jefferson.
During multiple contacts, detectives say he kept changing the terms by offering tickets for additional games, pre-game reception tickets and other perks.
The sheriff’s office says during multiple meetings, the man – later identified as Dennis M. Andreasen – kept making excuses for why he didn’t have the tickets.
In February, a family friend who worried the woman was being scammed followed her to the WinCo on East Sprague and tried to talk to Andreasen who walked away.
“Deputies identified Andreasen, who admitted to owing the victim $8,000 for basketball season tickets,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. “He claimed he was selling them for a friend, but the friend had not given him the tickets yet. Deputies conducted interviews and completed a report, but they could not establish probable cause to charge Andreasen with a crime, so he was released.”
Detectives in Spokane learned Andreasen was arrested in Kootenai County in July on unrelated charges. When Spokane Valley detectives tried to talk to him, he said he didn’t know anything about the basketball tickets and asked for a lawyer.
The sheriff’s office obtained several search warrants and found evidence to show he used a fake name, fake social media profile, fake banking information and a different phone number from the phone he gave deputies.
Detectives say he also stayed in different Airbnb locations as part of “an elaborate scheme to try and maintain anonymity as he defrauded the victim of money with no intent to provide her the tickets.”
Deputies obtained a warrant for Andreasen’s arrest on first degree theft charges, but they aren’t sure where he is.
If you have information about Andreasen, you’re asked to call Crime Check at 509-456-2233.
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