One of the lead plaintiffs in a stop-and-frisk lawsuit against the city turned down a plea deal Thursday on charges he sold thousands of dollars in bogus Broadway, concert and sports tickets.
Manhattan prosecutors offered Angel Ortiz, 19, one to three years in prison if he copped to swindling over $8,000 from at least six victims and paid full restitution.
“Not guilty,” were the only words Ortiz spoke in Manhattan Supreme Court when he was arraigned on a whopping 34 counts of grand larceny, possession of a forged instrument and petty larceny.
Ortiz was first in the news as a high-profile plaintiff in anti-stop-and-frisk litigation in late 2012, posing for photos and giving media interviews outside Manhattan Federal court.
He claimed cops illegally stopped and frisked him before roughing him up for no reason near his Tremont Bronx home seven years ago.
This time the fraudster, who has been busted three times for pulling off the same scam, earned the police’s attention.
“I was here to sell someone tickets,” he told cops when they busted him January 10thnear Union Square Park with seven forged tickets, according to the criminal complaint.
He hawked fake tickets on Craigslist for hit Broadway shows like “Book of Mormon” and “Kinky Boots” and sporting events like Giants games.
The slick thief would meet his marks at Starbucks and hotel lobbies wearing a tie and dress shirt for the drop off. He handed over hard-paper tickets and a printed receipt.