Longtime Des Moines, Iowa sports radio host Marty Tirrell pled guilty to mail fraud and now faces up to 20 years in prison. In accepting a plea deal last Friday, Tirrell had nine other counts of fraud dismissed, federal court records show.
Tirrell will be sentenced April 7, 2020. According to court records, mail fraud can carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, maximum fine of $250,000 and parole for three years.
When indicted last February, complaints stated the former Des Moines radio personality was given money by at least eight people to purchase sporting event tickets from brokers with plans to resell them for a profit. Tirrell instead kept some of the investment money for personal use and to repay earlier investors in a Ponzi-like scheme.
As a longtime sports radio host in Des Moines, Tirrell worked for multiple stations including 1700 The Champ and 1460 KXNO. Over the course of two decades, Tirrell co-hosted the popular Marty and Miller Show with Ken Miller, which ended in 2017. Miller has no involvement in the federal case against Tirrell.
Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.
