Cincinnati police are asking for the public’s help to identify a man accused of posing as a parking lot attendant during a recent sporting event.
The incident reportedly happened last weekend in the parking lot of the Freestore Foodbank.
Police said an unidentified man posed as a parking attendant at the nonprofit’s parking lot ahead of an FC Cincinnati game.
“Basically, he set up fake cones and fake tickets and sold out the entire parking lot,” Freestore Foodbank President and CEO Kurt Reiber said. “This was four or five hours before the game even started.”
And this cost the nonprofit money, according to Reiber.
Earlier this year, Freestore Foodbank closed its doors at its Central Parkway location but instead of allowing the building to sit vacant, they decided to rent out the parking lot.
“We partnered with Tri-State Parking. They said they would operate it for us and give us a little bit of money back,” Reiber said. “The money we would get would help us feed kids.”
Employees for Tri-State Parking called management once arriving at the lot that day. They informed managers about the man posing as an attendant.
The team confronted the man, but he reportedly took off before police arrived.
Reiber said he made nearly $2,000 in less than five hours.
“My understanding is that he was selling the parking spaces for $40 a car,” Reiber said.
According to the nonprofit, that money could have fed about 5,000 children.
Reiber is now asking that the man donate some of his earnings and turn himself in.
