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Daring, Innovative - The Super Bowl Coaches? No, The Crooks

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 2, 2009

Updated: 02/02/2009 03:08 pm

TAMPA - Compared to a regular ol' football game at Raymond James Stadium, fans at Super Bowl XVIII were fairly well-behaved, at least inside.

But some offenses that happened on the outside shed light on how daring and innovative people can be when big money is involved.

In all, Tampa police reported 26 arrests, 12 for felonies. Eighteen people were ejected from the stadium for unruly behavior.

The number of ejections and arrests stemming from fan behavior was equivalent to a normal game, said police Maj. John Bennett, "maybe even a little less."

Most of those involved rowdiness. "We tried to adjust our tolerance and temperance based on type of crowd," he said. "You're paying a lot of money and we want to let fans be fans - until fan behavior affects other fans."

The real criminal masterminds were outside the stadium, he said.

Nine hawkers of bogus tickets were pinched on Sunday, adding to the nine arrested last week.

At a typical Bucs game, said Tampa police spokesman Jim Contento, "We get three or four counterfeit ticket arrests."

But the stakes were higher Sunday, with tickets going from $800 to almost $2,000.

"I know of a guy who got taken for $1,700," Contento said. "We're still looking for the bad guy."

Two Las Vegas men were charged with selling counterfeit credentials.

Police said the men tried to get into the game with fake credentials. Twelve sets of credentials were seized from them.

All of the defendants charged with counterfeit offenses were from out of state, with one telling authorities he was from Oregon.

The arrest of those outside the stadium was more than a typical game, said Bennett, who supervised the entire law enforcement effort, from parking to traffic to security.

"That was unprecedented," he said. "Usually, we don't have that problem."

Officers said they also solved a case of stolen tickets.

They said a Kentucky man took two tickets from the victim outside the stadium and ran off. But he ditched the tickets – each with a face value of $800 – in the median of Himes Avenue and they were recovered and returned. The suspect was arrested nearby and charged with grand theft.

Even stranger was the arrest of a Bradenton woman who was charged with drunken driving after, police say, she ran into a mounted police horse south of the stadium just after kickoff.

Ginger, the horse, and the officer were not injured.

Police also reported four infractions of air space flight restrictions, all just before game time. Starting about 4 p.m., unauthorized aircraft were banned from a 30-mile radius around the stadium.

Two small aircraft entered the zone but complied with orders to leave. Police say the infractions were unintentional, and no citations were issued.

A third aircraft entered the zone and that pilot was cited for violating the restricted air space and failing to have medical certification.

A fourth pilot was issued a warning.

Some fans at the big game had health problems, Tampa Fire Rescue said.

Throughout the day, paramedics stationed in tents at the NFL Experience and inside the stadium treated dozens of people for minor medical conditions. Nine patients were transported from the stadium to St. Joseph's Hospital for undisclosed medical problems.

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.

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