GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A Lawrenceville man accused of taking thousands of dollars from Super Bowl fans in a ticket scheme has been arrested in Temecula, California.
Ketan Shah, 48, is accused of offering to sell tickets to at least six people. Gwinnett County Police re-interviewed the victims and gathered enough information to obtain a felony warrant for his arrest.
Another man told police he gave the Shah $500,000 so that his entertainment company could host a Super Bowl event at an arena.
One of those six ticket hopefuls was John Brunetti, a Gwinnett County man who said he gave Shah $50,000 for 10 tickets to Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta.
“Very rarely, we get to see a Super Bowl come through your city in a lifetime, and this was a great opportunity to get a chance to see some great football,” Brunetti told 11Alive.
Gwinnett County Police said Brunetti made a deal with Shah, who was a board member of the Georgia Indo-American Chamber of Commerce. He said he was introduced to Shah through his brother-in-law and the deal seemed like a sure thing.
“I even had him sign a contract that if he didn’t give me the tickets, he would give me the face value of the tickets so I could at least pay for those on the day of the game,” Brunetti said. “He was like, ‘yeah, no problem.’”
Shah was reported as a missing person in Dec. 2018 but later returned home after what he described as a “mid-life crisis,” according to Gwinnett County Police. He left again a few days later and his family had not seen him since, according to police.
Gwinnett Police determined that Shah traveled to Miami, Alabama, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Las Vegas and California before he was spotted Feb. 4 by a casino worker in Riverside County, California. The worker told police he recognized Shah from the extensive news coverage of the Super Bowl ticket scam. Shah was arrested at the Pechanga Casino and Resort in Temecula, according to police.
The employee, 19-year-old David Halliday, told 11Alive that he could tell right away, something was off about Shah.
"Just from the offset, he just seemed a bit different from the usual guests we usually see in the spa," Halliday explained. "(Then) I saw his name it it stuck out to me ... in the back of my head."
From there, Halliday did a Google search where his suspicions were confirmed.
"I saw about five different news articles on the guy, and I was like, 'wow. This must just be a coincidence. This couldn't be the guy'."
But after cross-referencing Shah's picture, Halliday was certain it was him. So he alerted both his managers and authorities.
Authorities at the spa said it was the exact right thing to do.
"It was a perfect, shining example of doing the right thing and reporting," said Robert Krauss, the VP of Public Safety for Pechanga Resort Casino.
Shah has been charged with felony theft by conversion and is being held in California until he can be extradited. Police said the investigation is still underway and more charges could come.
In a statement posted on its website, the Georgia Indo-American Chamber of Commerce announced that Shah has been suspended from his role as a Board of Directors member.
“GIACC and its officers and directors have no connection to the alleged personal actions taken by Mr. Shah and the Board remains committed to the mission of the organization,” the statement read.