Ellie Catchesides, 28, is as lucky as she is dishonest. The mother of three sold thousands of dollars worth of fake Disneyland tickets to friends. Yet, she will not be going to jail for her disgraceful betrayal of people who were seeking to take their families to Disney in Paris.
Catchesides admitted to defrauding four people including a friend of 15 years by telling them that she had passes that she could not use. A mother posted the fraud on the Internet and helped reveal the criminality.
When confronted Catchesides claimed to be a victim, but later admitted to the scam.
Judge Andrew Lees denounced Catchesides at sentencing and said that she committed “a mean and dishonest offense against [innocent people] and there was some persistence in what you were doing.”
Yet, Catchesides was sentenced to complete 140 hours of unpaid work for her role and no jail time.
Do you feel that such an offense warranted at least some jail time?
Why no jail time? Not only were the counterfeit goods worth thousands of dollars, but such fake passes could have ruined vacations. People would have paid for transportation, hotels, car rentals, etc only to discover they had no tickets. I hope Disneyland in Paris is similar to other resorts, and they could buy more tickets there. But what if their budget did not include that expense, and they did not have enough cash on them to pay thousands more?
I cannot understand why anyone would defraud anyone, but to do so to a friend of 15 years just boggles the mind.
People can be so disappointing sometimes.
140 hours of community service is fine, as a starter. But, what about those people, some of whom were friends we understand, who were defrauded? Did they purchase passes from her? Did they makes trips to Paris on the presumption the tickets were real? If so, then she needs to reimburse those people the money they can prove they have lost because of her fraud. If she has NO income, which I very much doubt, then they can deduct a small sum from her monthly dole/welfare payment until restitution has been made. If she doesn’t like the sound of that, then I would simply put her in jail for 60 days or so.
It may be useful to view this behavior from the point of view of functional psychopathy. She defrauded friends and their families (including disappointing children). I wonder if an investigation into her past behavior wouldn’t uncover various manipulations and cons of a lesser predatory nature. I have no doubt that she is charming and persuasive.
A psychological examination should have been performed prior to sentencing. Perhaps a more significant sentence would have been appropriate for what may be a social predator and con artist.
Maybe she went to Disneyland, fell off a ferris wheel, hit her head and suffered PTSD. The disorder is causing her to seek revenge. Send her to Afghanistan.
Laissez-faire capitalists should rejoice at her entrepreneurial acumen. After all, who needs regulation of contractual relations?
Go Oregon!
Congratulations to Mississippi State women’s basketball!
If she had done it on a large enough scale she would be a candidate for Secretary of Treasury.
Is the judge named Dumbo? I would have given her 30 days on a jail work crew picking up trash and painting over graffiti.
Tort law is now so absurdly plaintiff friendly that is truly hard to know if the story in the link is a parody.
Scott;
Plaintiffs win something in about 53% of auto cases and 30% of medical malpractice cases. It’s a real disparity crisis, alright. Facts are fun.
No – but she should have been sentenced to pay restitution to those scammed – maybe double the amount she received from them, and to pay all police and court costs. Restitution not retribution should be the paradigm. She would only learn better skills in jail for how to commit more crimes. Prison / jail should only be for those who are likely to physically injure people/
A sane voice in the otherwise malevolent comments; jail helps no one, but putting her to work for pay to compensate her victims does. The social stigma she has already suffered is punishment enough. Jail is revenge, that which does not belong to us so they say.
Fraud is a big deal that deserves real jail time as punishment, me thinks. Restitution is a good point, but only after time served. Punishment for grand theft isn’t the same as jail time for smoking the devil weed.
Jail/prison is jail/prison. Doesn’t matter what you’re in for, or for how long. It all sux. Sux for the inmates. Sux for the taxpayers forced to house non-violent offenders. Sux for society.
One must consider the bright side of the crime. Any parent who has had to suffer a day at Disneyland with their kid or kids should know the negative side of that place. You have to explain to the kid that the Mouse is not real and his real name is not Mickey. It goes from there. One fraud leads to another. Soon you are part of the fraud. Selling tickets to the fraud is just another aspect. Selling fake tickets is like selling fake news. Democrats believe it and RepubliCons don’t. That is why the country voted for the Donald. Except wait! Hillary won the poplar vote. So Donald won the unpopular vote or the Electoral College. Never send your kids to Disneyland or to the Electoral College or to Trump University. All this kind of goes together and flocks together and rhymes with dime and poet but don’t know it.
You seem like a real fun guy. LOL!
She defrauded her friends and the Disney Corporation. I would have
Thought at least 90 days in jail to drive the point home. Unless the Judge realized she burned so many bridges with family and friends,
There was no one to take care of the children…. I wonder if she smiled for her mug shot? 😬
Since Disney raised the prices on all their parks, it made forgery worthwhile. Actually, it could be a nice side industry for retirement. 🙂
Make her take science lessons taught by Nancy Pelosi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8At2Lch-m5c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsRsLf5i16c
That last photo is more gross than the Hillary photos that come up on here. How old is that old itchBay? Does she not know that “natural gas” is another word for artFay? I bet she artFays a lot and wants to get paid for it. She does in a way, since she gets a salary for being in the Senate.
April Fools!
One thing is certain – she needs to be thrown out of the country permanently.
Put her in the stocks – let the defrauded folks throw rotted fruit at her. Seriously, yes she should serve some time IMO
The people defrauded should be awarded the right to punch her in the gut one time for every dollar she stole from them. That sounds fair.
A Mickey Mouse sentence.
Actually a more fitting punishment would be to force her to go to Disneyland every day for two months.
Counterfeiting is a crime. In fact, based on the dollar amount, it is a felony.
That’s why I suggested that she be sentenced to spending every day at Disneyland for a couple months. To me that’s almost the equivalent of 10 years in the pen.