Man arrested for selling fake festival tickets
Summertime in El Paso is a time when families enjoy outdoor festivals together.
It hasn’t been all fun and games for organizers of the Ysleta Mission Festival.
On July 14, during the weekend long festival, El Paso police say 44-year-old Jesus Manuel Ayala was caught with more than 400 imposter tickets for the event.
A value of about $400-$500.
Many of those tickets were used for drinks, food and games.
Eleven-year volunteer, Ramon Ortiz said since many tried using the tickets he suspects Ayala had already sold some outside the festival.
That day up to 7,000 people were in attendance.
“It hurts that these people, as hard as we work to get funds for the church find it easy to do something like that,” said Ortiz.
All the proceeds from the festival go to renovations for the Ysleta Mission, an El Paso trademark and one of the oldest missions in the United States.
Ortiz said he was working the event when off-duty officers were alerted to suspicious tickets.
“This guy (Ayala) went over to buy some t-shirts, and the girl there saw that the ticket didn’t have the blue water mark in the back,” said Ortiz.
Now the festival committee is working to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“We are already looking at a different way at doing the tickets next year. We’re going have a black light with a scanner,” said Ortiz
Ayala was arrested and booked into the El Paso County Jail.
His bond was set at $750.
