FAKE FOOTBALL TICKETS SMOKE OUT DEADBEAT DADS

BEFORE

BUSTED

A DOZEN deadbeat dads were busted by with a brilliant sting, where they were offered tickets to the Iron Bowl football game in Alabama, only to be pounced on be law enforcement officers. 
The novel approach, created by Alabama's Lee County Sheriff, knew they were bound to lure out some of the suspects, as tickets are virtually impossible to get hold of for one of the most heated rivalries in sport. 
So they sent out "You Have Won!" letters to a number of men with large outstanding child-support warrants telling them they'd won tickets to the grudge match between defending national champions Auburn and Alabama University game.  Then they set up a storefront with balloons and banner in the front and handcuffs and school buses in the back. 
Disguised deputies, dressed in either Tigers or Crimson Tide gear then cheered as every last one of their hapless marks walked in with their letters and photo IDs. 
Capt. Van Jackson from the sheriff's office said: "It was an idea that just grew out of conversations here at the agency. 
"We wanted to do something because we had some very large outstanding child-support warrants, and we wanted to come up with a sting operation to lure those people in. Obviously with the [football] season coming up, the timing was important."
Of their victims he added:  "They were very excited, right up to the point where we got them in the back and put the cuffs on them. 
"We had one guy ask us if he still got his tickets after we'd booked him in. That was pretty funny. We all got stories to tell for the rest of our lives."

The suspects, who owe a combined $270,000 were transported to the Lee County Detention Facility to await a hearing at which bail will be set.

“They’re going to need to come up with some money,” Jackson said.