That’s not the ticket

Plainclothes detectives at the Taste of Newport on Saturday arrested

two men for selling counterfeit tickets to the event, police said

Wednesday.

The men approached the detectives and offered to sell tickets at

$5 less than the $20 face value, said Sgt. Bill Hartford. Police have

not determined how many counterfeit tickets were sold; however,

$2,000 in cash was found on one of the men, Hartford said.

Jeffrey Alan Lipton, 42, of Los Angeles, and Richard Robert Bove,

43, of Los Alamitos, were both arrested on suspicion of

counterfeiting.

“This is a community-based event that two individuals took

advantage of for their own personal greed or own personal benefit,”

Hartford said.

Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce officials were tipped off

Saturday that someone was selling tickets outside the event, said

chamber President Richard Luehrs.

Officials contacted Newport Police, who arrived within minutes,

Luehrs said.

Two men approached detectives in plainclothes and offered them the

discounted tickets, Hartford said. Officers knew that tickets were

only available at the door or by advanced sale. Chamber officials

confirmed that the tickets were counterfeit, Hartford said.

The official tickets did have a security feature, but police would

not comment on the specific feature. The tickets do not have a bar

code, but instead are marked with an identifying series of numbers,

Luehrs said.

“You send a message to people who have these kinds of ideas that

they’re going to rip off the charities and the chamber of commerce;

we’re out to defend ourselves,” Luehrs said.

This is not the first year that counterfeiters showed up at the

Taste of Newport, Luehrs said.

Last year, the chamber got word that someone was attempting to

sell discounted tickets. However, chamber officials were not able to

locate the ticket seller before he was gone, Luehrs said.

“In our preparation for this year, we said there is a propensity

for this to happen again; therefore we should establish a system,” he

said.

This time, police were called immediately when counterfeit-ticket

sellers were suspected, Luehrs said.

A portion of the proceeds from Taste of Newport goes to charity.

Since 1998, the event has raised more than $140,000 for charities,

according to the chamber of commerce.

The beneficiaries of this year’s festival are set to be chosen

after the event.

The sale of counterfeit tickets will not have an ill effect on the

event’s charitable contribution, Luehrs said.

* LAUREN VANE covers public safety and courts. She may be reached

at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at [email protected].