DES MOINES, Iowa — Former sports talk radio host Marty Tirrell has been sentenced to 41 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to repay $1.4 million to victims in a multi-year sports ticketing scam.
Judge Stephanie Rose handed down the sentence Wednesday, calling Tirrell's actions a "Ponzi-like scheme."
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa Richard Westphal said Terrell “hooked victims with his gift of gab and then left them high and dry, without sports tickets and money out of their pockets” in court documents.
Tirrell's lack of criminal history played a factor in sentencing, as prosecutors had asked for a five-year prison term.
"I was given so very much … and I failed in a heap of dishonesty," Tirrell, who is allowed to self-surrender to law enforcement, said in court. "How dare I.”
$1,462,829.55 in total restitution must be paid: $212,226.23 to American Express, $33,144.53 to Wells Fargo, $31,775 to Bank of the West and the rest to individual victims:
R.W. — $240,825
J.W. — $886,087
W.N. — $7,500
T.J. — $8,265.75
D.D. — $43,006.03
All victims were identified by initials only as submitted in court documents
Following his time in prison, Tirrell will be on supervised release for three years. He is prohibited from gambling, entering any facility where gambling is happening, drinking alcohol or entering any place that makes most of its money on alcohol.
“On Friday nights I was a truly enthusiastic voice of high school football," Tirrell added. "On Sunday, I morphed into a gambler watching NFL football losing ungodly amounts of money.”
“I knew this day would eventually come.”
Tirrell's sister wrote a letter to the court detailing his 40-year-plus gambling problem.
The defense asked for a less-than-maximum sentence, arguing Tirrell turns 61 next week and would not be able to pay restitution while in prison.
Tirrell, known as “The Mouth of the Midwest”, hosted sports talk radio shows on 1460 KXNO and 1700 The Champ. He was indicted in January 2019 on six charges with four more added on in May 2019.
Tirrell pleaded guilty in December 2019 to a single count of mail fraud as part of a plea agreement.
He told investors they could make money by financing purchases of sporting event tickets, claiming he could make profits by buying and reselling the tickets.
However, Tirrell used money paid to him by investors for personal use despite claiming he “needed more time” to pay back investors, including mailing insufficient funds checks and transmitting false money wire information “to place the Investors temporarily at ease”.
“You’re the lowest form of human life there is and I hope you never get out," victim J.W. said in court Wednesday. "You will reoffend and reoffend and reoffend because you’re a goddamn liar.”
J.W. became an investor so Tirrell could buy and sell tickets, giving Tirrell $1.2 million from October 2016 to October 2017.
Civil judgments against Tirrell have totaled $1.7 million since 2012, and FBI Special Agent Kevin Kohler said there are many people of high standing in the community that did not want to be named or identified as victims.