United defrauded of $400,000
Woman admits stealing $400,000 in tickets from United Airlines
CINCINNATI - A Cincinnati roller derby star has admitted stealing $400,000 in airline tickets from United Airlines for teammates, friends and family, authorities say.
Mercedes Stafford, who skates as "Sadistic Sadie" for the Cincinnati Rollergirls, pleaded guilty to committing wire fraud while working for the airline, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Wednesday.
Prosecutors say Stafford, 34, used the airline's computerized system to create phony ticket numbers to issue tickets on United and other airlines.
Stafford booked more than 525 tickets between May 2007 and October 2009, they said.
"This was obviously a scheme that she thought she could get away with," Fred Alverson, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said.
People paying Stafford for the tickets did not know they were obtained illegally, investigators said.
Rollergirls spokesman Lee Laney said no one on the team was aware of Stafford's fraud.
"We were saddened to hear today's news," Laney said. "While we do not condone her actions, of which the rest of the team had no knowledge, we wish her and her family the best as she takes responsibility for them and as her case works its way through the judicial system."
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