A former central Iowa sports radio host has been indicted on federal fraud charges.
An indictment filed in late January accuses Martin “Marty” Tirrell of stealing $1.5 million from a list of investors across the state.
Tirrell, 59, was indicted on January 23, 2019 on six charges: Two counts bank fraud, two counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and one count of access device fraud.
According to the indictment, Tirrell told investors they could make money by financing Tirrell’s brokering of sporting event tickets, claiming he could make profits by buying and re-selling the tickets.
However, Tirrell allegedly 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”.
A federal judge rules Thursday that Tirrell must undergo an evaluation and remain in custody until a bed is available at a resisdential treatment facility.
Tirrell, know as “The Mouth of the Midwest”, hosted sports talk radio shows on 1460 KXNO and 1700 The Champ.
In one instance, the indictment reads, Tirrell deposited a check for over $13,000 to two different financial institutions and also attempted to file false fraud claims.
Tirell submitted seven false fraud claims relating to his debit card, “that reported 144 unauthorized debit card transactions were conducted on his account … totaling $82,733.74, when, in fact, the debit card transactions were not fraudulent and Tirrell had made those debit card transactions,” according to the indictment.
Tirrell is currently scheduled for an April 1 jury trial at the federal courthouse in Des Moines.