Hermosa Woman Pleads No Contest to Selling Fake Lady Gaga Tickets

A Hermosa Beach woman has pleaded no contest to selling counterfeit Lady Gaga concert tickets to 47 people last year, police said in a statement Tuesday.

Debra Louise Brass, 28, entered the plea in Torrance Superior Court on March 8, and is now ordered to repay $7,000 to the people who say she duped them.

Brass reportedly must also complete 58 days in an alternative work service program through the Los Angeles County Probation Department. She will be on formal probation for three years, according to Hermosa Beach police.

Brass on suspicion of selling the phony Lady Gaga concert tickets online. The tickets were for a sold-out show at the Staples Center on Aug. 11. 

Brass first legitimately purchased six tickets online through Ticketmaster for herself and friends, she told police last year. But when her friends changed their minds about attending the concert, she reportedly sold the tickets on Craigslist.

The Hermosa Beach Police Department was then contacted by a victim claiming that she had purchased counterfeit Lady Gaga tickets from Brass, who initially responded that she inadvertently made a duplicate copy of the tickets and someone else repeatedly resold her extras.

The victim told police that there were more than 40 other concertgoers at the Staples Center on Aug. 11 who were turned away from the show because their tickets, which were purchased through Craigslist, were found to be fraudulent. 

with two counts of felony counterfeiting and one count of felony identity theft, as well as seven misdemeanor charges.

Brass' plea of no contest is the same as that of a guilty plea under California law, police said. But the plea may not be used against her in any civil lawsuit based on the act that the criminal prosecution is based.