AUSTIN, Texas — A SXSW volunteer stands accused of scalping three event badges, according to an affidavit obtained by KVUE from the Travis County District Attorney's Office.
Austin police have charged 25-year-old Antonio W. Ferreira Jr. with theft, a state jail felony in which the value of the stolen property exceeds $2,500 but is less than $30,000.
The total value of the SXSW badges Ferreira is accused of scalping is $4,950.
On Monday, March 11, SXSW officials received reports of badges that were printed with names of actual SXSW registrants but produced and distributed to people that were not those named registrants.
By monitoring back-end data, camera footage and other elements of their credentialing system, SXSW officials discovered that two SXSW volunteers had been printing badges using the names of actual registrants, but then distributing them to other individuals.
On Wednesday, Ferreira was observed by SXSW officials producing and distributing a badge to an individual who was not the person named on the badge. SXSW officials stopped the purchaser as he was leaving the registration area to check his identity. He refused to present identification but surrendered the badge.
The purchaser was later identified by a police officer. He told the officer he answered an ad on Craigslist and met with an unidentified subject at the Austin Convention Center, who coordinated payment for the badge. That subject then directed the purchaser to Ferreira, who was working in the SXSW registration area.
According to the affidavit, two of the illegal badge transactions occurred on Saturday, March 9 and the other occurred on March 13.
Ferreira remains in the Travis County Jail, with his bail set at $25,000.
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