Ex-KU Official Pleads Guilty

A former athletic department official at the University of Kansas has pleaded guilty in a case that involved the sales of more than $2 million in stolen tickets to the school’s football and basketball games.

Former associate athletic director Charlette Blubaugh recently pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy in a Wichita, Kan., court, agreeing to forfeit millions in proceeds raised by skimming off and selling the tickets to brokers over several years.

Blubaugh, her husband who worked as a paid consultant for Kansas Athletics and several other former employees were indicted by a grand jury in November, after an investigation began amid reports that KU athletics officials were scalping tickets.

According to court documents, the scheme began in 2005, when Blubaugh began setting aside season tickets that were initially requested by another former associate athletic director, Ben Kirtland. Blubaugh then began channeling tickets meant for prominent donors to her husband, with whom she would split the profits from sales.

Blubaugh faces up to 20 years in prison for the conspiracy charge. However, prosecutors have reportedly asked for leniency in the ruling should she provide “substantial assistance” in ongoing investigations of co-conspirators in the case. Her sentencing is scheduled for April 14.