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May. 08, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Man gets eight to 20 years for scam

Chirchick's Pro Bowl swindle costs dearly

By DAVID KIHARA
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Mitchell Chirchick
40-year-old is already serving time in federal prison in Minnesota for mail fraud

A man accused of swindling hundreds of people out of Pro Bowl travel packages was sentenced Wednesday to spend eight to 20 years in prison and was ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution to his victims.

Mitchell Chirchick, 40, who is serving time in federal prison for mail fraud in Minnesota, apologized in District Court but said he never meant to cause anyone pain.

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    • His Nevada sentence will begin after he completes his sentence in the federal prison system.

    "I will carry this guilt for a long, long time and I have no one to blame but myself," said Chirchick. "It was never my intention to hurt anyone."

    Authorities said people across the county paid Chirchick and his company, CEI Sports Tours, between $500 and $1,500 for travel packages to the 2007 Pro Bowl in Honolulu. The packages, which included air fare, game tickets and hotel rooms, weren't delivered, authorities said.

    In many cases, people showed up to McCarran International Airport the day before the Pro Bowl expecting to pick up their travel packages but walked away empty handed.

    In March, Chirchick pleaded guilty to three counts of theft in connection with the Pro Bowl packages.

    "Mitchell just lied to us deliberately, maliciously," said Jeffrey "Dawg" Manz, co-owner of Aces & Eights Bar and Grill on Decatur Boulevard near Alta Drive.

    Manz said he initially thought the low price of the Pro Bowl tickets was "too good to be true" but was won over after Chirchick organized a successful trip before the Pro Bowl. Manz said he encouraged friends and bar customers to purchase the travel packages, too. He even bought several packages to raffle off to customers at the bar.

    But it turned out to be a scam that stained his reputation, Manz said.

    "Some of our customers didn't appreciate it very much," said Manz, a bartender for 20 years. "Our trust, our armor, was damaged."

    Chirchick's lawyer, James Dean Leavitt, said Chirchick had money problems in part because he paid his employees too much and then "kept getting further and further behind." He said Chirchick contacted people before they went to McCarran to warn them the travel packages wouldn't be there.

    Chirchick said he recently became a father and is hurt knowing that he won't see his daughter take her first steps.

    Chirchick, who lived in North Las Vegas, was born in California and earned a degree in marketing from the University of California, Los Angeles.

    In 2001 and 2002, Chirchick pleaded guilty to mail fraud in Minnesota and was granted supervised probation. In Las Vegas, he was sued over allegations that he bounced checks, court records show.

    Darlene Candito said she and her family also fell victim to Chirchick's scam. Her family bought Pro Bowl packages from Chirchick, but before they could go her husband, Steven, died in a car accident in 2006.

    She said that after the accident, Chirchick told her he wanted to start a memorial for her husband and trust fund for her kids. Candito's friends and family and Chirchick sold tickets to a hockey game and the proceeds were supposed to go to her and her kids. But he took the money for himself and didn't deliver the Pro Bowl packages either, she said.

    "He took my husband and my tragedy and turned it into another profit scheme," she said.

    Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.

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    Ron wrote on May 08, 2008 02:43 PM: "There's a sucker born every minute." is ringing in my head. No one else heard it, I guess?


    Unknown wrote on May 08, 2008 01:49 PM: I used to work for this company. He ripped off us employees too. We stayed at the office until after midnight the night before the Pro Bowl trip planning the logistics of it, not knowing there was not going to be a trip. We also never got paid our last checks and had trouble finding employment. He left it to us to explain to customers why there wasn't a trip while he collected $1.5million from Costco for trips sold through them. He ripped off thousands of more people than the paper and news tells for way more trips than the Pro Bowl. It was a legit company and we did plenty of trips monthly across the country until this one.


    AgaC wrote on May 08, 2008 11:03 AM: Chirchick said he recently became a father and is hurt knowing that he won't see his daughter take her first steps.

    WHAT TRAMP WOULD SLEEP WITH THIS BALD HEADED LOSER THAT WAS MONTHS FROM GOING TO PRISON? NOT ONLY THAT, PROCREATE WITH HIM? WONDERS NEVER CEASE.


    Dave wrote on May 08, 2008 11:01 AM: "It was never my intention to hurt anyone."
    That is hilarious. His ONLY intention was to screw all of these people out of thousands of dollars. But, he didn't think that would hurt anyone? Lock this idiot up asap. I'm sure he has wasted all the money, so how is he going to pay restitution? If he had screwed out of $2k, I'd have found another way to get even.


    the ghost of desert inn wrote on May 08, 2008 10:36 AM: what a dumb way to use your marketing degree you idiot!


    Ox wrote on May 08, 2008 10:14 AM: What a "Richard"!!!


    Anonymous wrote on May 08, 2008 10:05 AM: Oh happy days!!! I am so glad he is finally getting what he deserves. Mitch stole money from my family as well as plane tickets he planned on exchanging back in 1996. That was after we considered him a "friend" and had him in our home several times. He was a con and a loser then and will be forever. Unfortunately we get stuck supporting him with our tax dollars. He isn't worth the concrete in his cell block!

    Hopefully his child doesn't get his genes. I hope he rots! To his wife: move on...he will never change (not to mention, have you looked at him? YUCK!!!)


    Henry wrote on May 08, 2008 08:56 AM: And if 'they' could only go after Desai that fast....


    lolly wrote on May 08, 2008 05:47 AM: Sure wish they were as aggressive on the ones that swindled people out of their homes and out of their pension funds like Enron and the rest.