Woman held for trial in sex-for-tickets case

The World Series is long over, but yesterday the legal case against a Phillies fan who allegedly offered sex for Series tickets was just going into its second inning.

Susan Finkelstein, 43, of West Philadelphia, was accused in late October of offering an undercover police officer various sex acts in return for tickets.

Finkelstein was held for trial yesterday by a judge in Bensalem after a preliminary hearing in which she was charged with prostitution and promoting prostitution.

Conservatively dressed in a dark gray jacket and skirt, the self-described "tall buxom blonde" sat stone-faced as two police officers detailed, often graphically, what they said she had offered for the tickets.

In late October, Finkelstein placed an ad on the Web site Craigslist that caught the attention of Bensalem's special-investigations unit. The posting said that price was "negotiable," and that "I'm the creative type! Maybe we can help each other!"

In multiple interviews, Finkelstein has said she was not offering sex.

Sgt. Richard Bugsch told District Judge Joseph Falcone yesterday that he had contacted Finkelstein Oct. 26, e-mailing that he had three tickets and would need to see her photo first. She sent him three topless photos, which were introduced into evidence yesterday.

"I asked her what she wanted to pay for the tickets," Bugsch said. "She responded, 'My currency is, well, let's just say, unconventional.' She said the price was mine to name."

Bugsch told her to wear something sexy to the meeting place, and said he would wear a Pennsylvania State University jacket, Bugsch testified.

She arrived and walked up to a man sitting at the bar. Officer Michael Brady was in plain clothes and wearing the Penn State jacket.

Brady testified that Finkelstein had said that she was married but in a very open relationship, and that her husband knew she was a prostitute but didn't care. Brady said Finkelstein had continued: "I'm a whore. I love sex."

At one point, Brady testified, Finkelstein pulled up her denim skirt, allowing him to see that she wore no underwear.

Finkelstein's attorney, William J. Brennan, said his client had done nothing criminal because there was no physical interaction and nothing of value had been exchanged.

"I take strong issue with the allegations . . . that she said she was a prostitute and a whore," Brennan said after the hearing, facing a crush of reporters and cameras. He added that Finkelstein's sending the photos had violated no laws. As for what happened at the bar, he said it was "the unsubstantiated word of one police officer."

Finkelstein didn't testify. After the hearing, she said that in the courtroom it was "very frustrating for me not to say anything. I'm a person who has a big mouth, and it was hard to hear the untruths said about me."