Bama fans sting scalper who sold them fake tickets to College Football Playoff

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The seller agreed to meet the Alabama fan seeking a ticket to that night's College Football Playoff championship hours before the game in Ybor City.

But as scalper Joseph Steven Escalera began the transaction, his customer's two brothers snuck up from behind. One pinned Escalera to his chair, pinching a nerve between his neck and shoulder while holding a long, cold object to the back of his head. The other two took his shoes and socks, as well as six tickets to that night's game they found tucked in Escalera's waistband.

When Tampa police arrived, they arrested Escalera.

The brothers had called police to tell them the same scalper had sold them two counterfeit tickets to the game the day before — at $1,000 apiece. So they pulled a bit of fakery themselves, using a different email and phone number to arrange a second purchase from Escalera.

It took police 10 minutes to arrive. It's a good thing they came quickly, said Bryant Gentry, 29, one of the brothers, all from Louisiana. The only thing keeping Escalera in his chair was the Coca-Cola bottle pressed to his head.

"All these people had gathered around watching and I kept yelling 'This guy sold us fake tickets, we're not robbing him,'" said Gentry, who had hoped to be spending that evening cheering on the University of Alabama taking on Clemson University.

"The only way this weekend could have been better was if we caught the bad guy and our football team won," Gentry said.

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