Don Tollefson rejects plea deal; trial starts Tuesday

Speaking with the relaxed grace of a man who spent decades on TV, Don Tollefson stepped before potential jurors on Monday and lifted his right pants leg.

He revealed the ankle bracelet that he has worn for more than a year, and asked if the monitoring device could color their view of him.

"Whether you've ever seen me on the news," Tollefson told the men and women, "can you look at me as a defendant who has a right to defend his innocence?"

Thus the $340,000 fraud trial for the once-famous Philadelphia sportscaster began, giving Tollefson perhaps his last audience: a jury of his peers in Bucks County.

After being denied a public defender, the 62-year-old will represent himself against allegations that he sold more than 200 people bogus travel packages to sporting events in the name of charity.

Working with prosecutor Matt Weintraub, Tollefson helped pick a jury Monday. Opening arguments are set for Tuesday morning.

Tollefson entered a guilty plea late last year, then withdrew it. And on Monday, Weintraub gave Tollefson a last chance to avoid a trial. He offered a deal that would have included about seven months in state prison and 14 months in drug treatment programs. But Tollefson rejected it.

Once the region's highest-paid sportscaster, Tollefson left broadcast TV in 2008. But jury selection showed that his celebrity endures. Among the first pool of 60 potential jurors, about half said they knew who he was, and eight said they couldn't be impartial.

Going by memory, Tollefson recited dozens of potential witness who could testify on his behalf. They ranged from friends at his Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to former Flyers goalie Bernie Parent and Phillies executive David Montgomery.

The prosecution intends to call Tollefson's wife among dozens of alleged victims and investigators.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.

"I look forward to telling my side of the story," Tollefson told reporters late Monday.

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