An undercover operation by the NYPD resulted in 14 arrests and an additional 21 warrants issued for scammers purporting to sell tickets to the Statue of Liberty and harbor tours.
The operation, dubbed "Tour de Force," was launched after a tourist had his skull fractured for refusing to buy tickets to the Statue of Liberty in February, and number of other complaints about ticket scammers.
The NYPD sent out undercover officers to pose as tourists, who discovered the phony ticket sellers would target foreign tourists. The scammers would approach the tourists, tell them tickets to the Statue of Liberty were sold out, then sell them a fake ticket to another boat.
Many of the hustlers were recent parolees who took jobs at ticket-selling businesses after they got out of jail, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller said Wednesday.
In February, two of the ticket sellers were arrested for assaulting a tourist, knocking him unconscious and fracturing his skull when he refused to buy tickets to the Statue of Liberty.
Robert Andersen, 25, and 19-year-old Teresa Thorson of Brooklyn, were arrested for the alleged attack.
Authorities allege Thorson approached the tourist and tried to sell him fake tickets to the landmark. When the victim refused, police say Andersen punched the man in the face.
The blow knocked the tourist unconscious and caused brain bleeding, police said. The man was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was treated for a fractured skull.
Thorson told NBC 4 New York at the time, "The tourist assaulted me," but declined to elaborate.
