YIKES!!! 
SOUNDS LIKE HE FOUND A TICKET TO TROUBLE!!!
By Pedro Ruz Gutierrez | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted May 11, 2004
A theme-park ticket-booth operator has been arrested on charges of racketeering and dealing in stolen property after authorities say he resold hundreds of stolen tickets.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office says Franklin D. Fox, 68, of Orange County obtained and distributed illegally obtained theme-park tickets to Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Florida, SeaWorld Orlando and other theme-oriented businesses.
Fox was arrested last Friday after deputy sheriffs used a warrant to search his business, MBK Tours Inc., at 5728 Major Blvd. and confiscated $250,000 in theme-park tickets.
Fox operates at least five ticket booths in Orange and Osceola counties and has listed his line of work as "time shares" and "tickets," according to business licenses. But investigators say Fox has no contract to sell attraction tickets. Fox could not be reached Monday night.
"This is not a victimless crime," said Lt. Larry Krantz, who described Fox as the ringleader who financed the ticket deals. Krantz said investigators are working to identify the sources of the tickets.
Deputy Kelly Boaz, the lead investigator, said one of Fox's associates bought stacks of tickets from a sheriff's informant. William R. Landis, a ticket-booth operator, later bought more tickets from an undercover agent in sting operations where authorities provided more than 900 purported stolen tickets, Boaz said.
Krantz said a third suspect, Cregg Witty, was arrested last fall after two tourists complained about a Disney Park Hopper four-day ticket that only was good for two days.
In 1996, Fox pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was ordered to serve 10 months in federal prison followed by a three-year probation.
That same year, a robber walked into the MBK Tours shop at 5807 W. U.S. Highway 192 and robbed a clerk of $23,500 in attraction tickets, $4,200 worth of telephone cards and $4,300 in traveler's checks and cash.
And in January 2001, Fox told Orlando police that two men posing as officers entered his office, tied him up with plastic cuffs and robbed him of about $17,000 in cash and more than $300,000 in theme-park tickets. Boaz said the two crimes against Fox occurred "under very suspicious circumstances."
Pedro Ruz Gutierrez can be reached at pruz@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5620.
SOUNDS LIKE HE FOUND A TICKET TO TROUBLE!!!
By Pedro Ruz Gutierrez | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted May 11, 2004
A theme-park ticket-booth operator has been arrested on charges of racketeering and dealing in stolen property after authorities say he resold hundreds of stolen tickets.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office says Franklin D. Fox, 68, of Orange County obtained and distributed illegally obtained theme-park tickets to Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Florida, SeaWorld Orlando and other theme-oriented businesses.
Fox was arrested last Friday after deputy sheriffs used a warrant to search his business, MBK Tours Inc., at 5728 Major Blvd. and confiscated $250,000 in theme-park tickets.
Fox operates at least five ticket booths in Orange and Osceola counties and has listed his line of work as "time shares" and "tickets," according to business licenses. But investigators say Fox has no contract to sell attraction tickets. Fox could not be reached Monday night.
"This is not a victimless crime," said Lt. Larry Krantz, who described Fox as the ringleader who financed the ticket deals. Krantz said investigators are working to identify the sources of the tickets.
Deputy Kelly Boaz, the lead investigator, said one of Fox's associates bought stacks of tickets from a sheriff's informant. William R. Landis, a ticket-booth operator, later bought more tickets from an undercover agent in sting operations where authorities provided more than 900 purported stolen tickets, Boaz said.
Krantz said a third suspect, Cregg Witty, was arrested last fall after two tourists complained about a Disney Park Hopper four-day ticket that only was good for two days.
In 1996, Fox pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was ordered to serve 10 months in federal prison followed by a three-year probation.
That same year, a robber walked into the MBK Tours shop at 5807 W. U.S. Highway 192 and robbed a clerk of $23,500 in attraction tickets, $4,200 worth of telephone cards and $4,300 in traveler's checks and cash.
And in January 2001, Fox told Orlando police that two men posing as officers entered his office, tied him up with plastic cuffs and robbed him of about $17,000 in cash and more than $300,000 in theme-park tickets. Boaz said the two crimes against Fox occurred "under very suspicious circumstances."
Pedro Ruz Gutierrez can be reached at pruz@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5620.
