Fair workers busted on ticket sales scam

Raleigh police charged two people working a ticket booth at the N.C. State Fair with embezzlement Monday.

Posted 8:14 p.m. Oct 21, 2008 — Updated 9:00 p.m. Oct 21, 2008

RALEIGH, N.C. — Raleigh police charged two people working a ticket booth at the N.C. State Fair with embezzlement Monday.

Travis Baker Rhodes, 87, of 1704 Lorimer Road in Raleigh, and Olivia Lee Jordan, 55, of 2305 Lockwood Folly Lane in Raleigh, were both temporary state employees, working an admission booth for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which oversees the fair.

Fair spokesman Brian Long described a scam in which one person sold the tickets and the second person palmed them when visitors entered the gates. The tickets were then returned to be sold again, yielding almost $1,000 for the two since last Thursday.

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