Former TV Sportscaster convicted in sports travel scam
A former Philadelphia sportscaster has been convicted of defrauding more than 200 sports fans out of $340,000 worth of sports travel packages that mostly never existed.
A Bucks County jury convicted 62-year-old Donald Tollefson on all counts in what was described by prosecutors as "a classic Ponzi scheme."
Tollefson was previously well known in the Philly area as the sports director at WPVI-TV, the local ABC affiliate and also covered sports and news on other stations.
"I feel humiliating guilt and remorse. I am so angry that I let people down. I want them to know how sorry I am," Tollefson said after the verdict was passed down.
Tollefson faces up to 37 years in prison for the theft by deception charges but will likely serve much less as he has a clean prior record.
He sold inclusive sports travel packages to fans and promised proceeds were to go to charitable organizations, most of which never materialized.
Tollefson was remanded to prison, where he is being held on $350,000 bail.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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