Former Des Moines, Iowa sports radio host Marty Tirrell has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison after scamming at least eight people out of approximately $1.5 million.
The 60-year-old Tirrell pled guilty to mail fraud in Dec. 2019. The plea deal had nine other counts of fraud dismissed according to federal court records, but he still faced up to 20 years in prison. Tirrell was sentenced to 41 months in prison on Wednesday and ordered to pay more than $1.4 million in restitution to the victims.
When indicted nearly two years ago, 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.
Brandon Contes is a former reporter for BSM, now working for Awful Announcing. You can find him on Twitter @BrandonContes or reach him by email at Brandon.Contes@gmail.com.
