Trial set for suspect in Super Bowl scam

WORCESTER (Kevin Keenan) - A man accused of selling $255,460 in phony tickets to Super Bowl XXXIX will testify in a federal trial that he was an unwitting participant in the scam with a Hudson man who was his business partner.

Michael R. Deppe, 21, of 19 Old Stow Road, Hudson, is scheduled to appear for a jury trial April 24 in U.S. District Court on two charges of mail fraud and four counts of wire fraud.

Federal prosecutors allege that Mr. Deppe sold Super Bowl tickets to 41 people through an eBay auction, and failed to provide a single ticket to the game between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles in Jacksonville, Fla., in February 2005. At that time, he had already been barred by a court order from using the auction Web site.

Prosecutors filed paperwork with the court recently naming their witnesses. A trial brief says William Englehart of Chester, N.Y., Mr. Deppe’s partner in the alleged scam, will be a main witness. Mr. Deppe and Mr. Englehart created an eBay sports memorabilia auction site called Aceprosports, and successfully sold items in the fall of 2004. The venture became an eBay “power seller” and earned a 99 percent customer approval rating on the auction site, giving the sellers a high degree of trustworthiness, according to the brief.

Mr. Deppe pleaded guilty to 10 of 16 counts in an indictment filed last March charging him with another series of eBay scams. He elected to go to trial for the remainder of the counts. He will be sentenced on the 10 counts to which he already pleaded guilty after the trial is held.

Two indictments were combined into a single case last year. Prosecutors estimate that Mr. Deppe got $370,000 from various eBay scams. He is being held without bail pending the trial.