Would you trust this man to sell you Super Bowl tickets on the Internet?
Enough people did. That's why Michael Deppe is facing charges that he bilked them and others out of $370,000.
The New England Patriots were three days away from the Super Bowl.
But, for about 10 fans, the suspense was not at the stadium in Jacksonville but at the airport in Orlando.
They each had shelled out about $7,500 for a pair of seats to last year's game through a dealer they found on the Internet. The tickets, they say, were supposed to have been sent to their homes but never arrived. So, they flew in on faith, relying on assurances from the young ticket-seller that he would have the tickets at the airport.
Now, at a Hertz counter, they had cornered the 20-year-old man just in from Boston who had their cash and, they hoped, their tickets.
When the seller tried to put them off, one of the buyers called the police on a cellphone. An officer arrived but refused to make an arrest, saying the seller had until the start of the game to deliver the tickets.
Then, in a twist that stunned the angry crowd, the young man turned to the officer and asked for protection. She shooed away the buyers, and the man drove off in his rental car.
Another close call for Michael R. Deppe.
This week, the resident, at various times, of Stow, Shrewsbury, Marlborough, and Hudson was scheduled to go on trial in US District Court in Worcester. He is accused of failing to deliver to 68 people goods worth $370,000 in Internet-related transactions.
Deppe faces six charges of fraud stemming from the Super Bowl incident. He has pleaded guilty to 10 other federal charges involving merchandise sold over the Internet. Neither he nor his lawyer, Steven Rappaport of Lowell, would talk about the case for this story.
Even those closest to him are puzzled by his journey from enterprising baseball card collector to an Internet wheeler-dealer vilified on blogs and chatrooms.
''It's almost like he's two people," said his mother, Catherine Grayzel.
His mother asked him what he was up to. He said he was holding a yard sale. Did his sister know he was selling her toys? No, he said, and then added, ''I've marked them up so much that nobody will buy them."
Deppe was born in 1984 in New Jersey. His father, Gunther Deppe, now 67, is a butcher who had immigrated to America from Germany in 1953. His wife, 22 years his junior, trained to be a nurse after Michael's younger sister was born and now works for a lawyer evaluating personal injury cases.
In 1997, after Grayzel had divorced and remarried, she and the children moved from New Jersey to Stow.
At 13, Deppe already was dealing in collectibles. Among his first products: Beanie Babies, the pellet-stuffed creatures that were becoming a craze. ''He rode the wave," said Grayzel, who took him to trade shows.
One evening, the phone was ringing off the hook. Deppe kept running to answer it before anyone else in the family could reach it.
Grayzel said her daughter told her that Deppe had posted a notice on the site of Ty Inc., the company that makes Beanie Babies, alerting potential customers he could obtain a new product, Princess the Bear, which commemorated the recently deceased Diana. The bear had yet to go on the market.
Grazel said she asked her son about the calls, particularly about how he could offer a product that he could not deliver. She said that Deppe replied: '' 'I just wanted to know if I found one how much I could get for it.' "
''That's when we knew we were in trouble," Grayzel said.
At about that time, the Stow Police Department began what became a thick file on Deppe, according to Sergeant Timothy Lima. The officer said that Deppe and his family filed complaints with the department that disgruntled customers were threatening to come to their doorstep. ''He was receiving so many threats, it was hard to keep track of them," Lima said.
Still, he marveled at Deppe's salesmanship: ''He could talk a dog off a meat wagon."
Grayzel said she and her son had fierce arguments about limiting his computer use.
In June 2002, she filed for a restraining order against her then 17-year-old son. ''I am now afraid that, should he return to the house, he will further attempt to injure my daughter, my husband, or myself," she wrote, according to documents filed in Concord District Court.
The order required Deppe to stay away from his family.
Deppe dropped out of high school during his senior year, but obtained a General
This reporter visited him about that time at his apartment.
Deppe, then 19, padded about barefoot on the kitchen floor while chatting with cheerful animation at staccato speed. He boasted about the success of his business, rolling up his sleeve to show off a watch he said was a Rolex. He admitted to making side deals off
During a pretrial hearing in March 2004, Judge John McCann said Deppe could remain free without bail, but ordered him to stay off computers.
While awaiting trial, Deppe continued his Internet dealings, according to a later federal indictment.
Among his accused victims is Brian Bell of Hilton Head, S.C. Bell is now a commercial airline pilot. As a sideline, he operates a luxury watch business, primarily over the Internet.
In an interview, Bell recounted his dealings with Deppe. He said that in fall 2004, Deppe e-mailed and phoned him, offering to sell Rolexes. Bell said he was interested in buying more than $100,000 worth but decided to be cautious and start with four or five.
They made a deal. After Bell wired Deppe $17,600, Deppe agreed to ship the watches overnight, according to court records. He gave Bell a postal tracking number for the shipment.
Bells said that day after day Deppe promised the watches would arrive, but they never did.
Using the tracking number, Bell asked the post office to investigate. It turned out that a package had been sent to a different address. The person who received it said it contained nothing but old newspapers, according to court records.
Bell said he never got the watches or the money back. But the transaction would come back to haunt Deppe.
In August 2004, the couple were married at Niagara Falls. Grayzel said the ceremony was arranged in three days after the couple decided against eloping.
In December, Deppe faced new legal charges. He was accused of cashing a bad check. Stow police charged Deppe with larceny. He was supposed to be in court on Jan. 27, 2005, for a pretrial hearing, but the court accepted a note from him saying he would be out of town through Feb. 7 ''on business in Jacksonville, Florida."
When Deppe arrived at Orlando International Airport on Feb. 3, 2005, two men -- one in New Hampshire, the other in South Carolina -- took note.
Michael Blanchard, an 18-year veteran of the US Postal Inspection Service, had been following Deppe's Internet escapades since March 2003 from his office base in Manchester, N.H. He was made chief investigator by the US attorney because the allegations against Deppe involved the US mails.
Helping keep Blanchard abreast of Deppe's activities was Michael Bell, the watch dealer.
After the Rolex deal fell apart, Bell made it his mission to keep track of Deppe's activities and posted alerts on websites that served as watchdogs for Internet dealings. Bell said he received numerous e-mails and phone calls from people concerned about Deppe. He would direct them to Blanchard.
In the week leading up to the Super Bowl, Bell and Blanchard fielded calls from people who said they had bought tickets from Deppe.
Law enforcement officials in New England and Florida also exchanged numerous calls, leading to a federal arrest warrant naming Deppe a fugitive from justice in Massachusetts.
Police found Deppe at his hotel room in St. Augustine about 6 the Friday evening before the game. While the Patriots were defeating the Philadelphia Eagles, Deppe was in a jail cell.
The day after the game, federal authorities in Jacksonville took custody of Deppe.
On Feb. 23, Deppe was charged in US District Court in Worcester with fraud worth about $115,000 in connection with the sports memorabilia, watches, and other merchandise. A second federal indictment a month later combined the February charges with the Super Bowl scam, which was put at $255,000. In all, Deppe was accused of cheating 68 people.
US Magistrate Judge Charles B. Swartwood III banned Deppe from using computers -- the second time Deppe had received such an order from a judge. Swartwood also ordered Deppe to get a job.
Deppe did attempt to secure several jobs in automobile sales; however, his employment record over the summer and into the fall became increasingly spotty, according to federal court records.
In November, Deppe was back in court facing a hearing to determine whether he had violated terms of his release. In addition to questions about Deppe's job status and computer use, officials raised a third issue -- gambling.
Deppe called Hudson police in August last year asking protection from a bookie he said had visited his house seeking payment of a $107,000 debt, according to court records.
Deppe's bail was revoked in December 2005. He returned to jail and has been there ever since.
Deppe could face up to 20 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine on each of the 16 counts. He has not been sentenced on any of the charges to which he has pleaded guilty.
However the court case proceeds, Deppe will not have it easy. The Stow home he and his wife bought last year is on the market for $799,900. He may have to pay restitution to many former customers if the money can be located or secured from the sale of his house and other property.
Deppe also has left behind plenty of bruised feelings.
''I love the kid with all my heart," his mother said. ''He doesn't understand how all this affects us. It's very, very painful."
Bell, the pilot, said he has compassion for Deppe, but that ''it's time for justice."
Connie Paige can be reached at cpaige@globe.com. 
