OPELIKA, Alabama -- For nearly a dozen deadbeat parents in the Lee County area, the free tickets they thought they won to the Iron Bowl turned out to be a ticket to jail for not paying child support.
Their reactions,
, were priceless on Saturday as they each came to the realization that the "drawing" was actually a sting operation by local law enforcement.
, the Lee County Sheriff's Office orchestrated the Operation Iron Snare sting to arrest parents that were not paying their child support using the unorthodox quarterback sneak method. In April, they sent letters out to 140 wanted suspects saying that they had won tickets to the game.
All they had to do was bring a photo ID to a specified location to receive the tickets. Of course, there were no Auburn-Alabama football tickets at the site on Saturday, only warrants and handcuffs for the violators.
According to the report, each person arrested was behind on their child support payments anywhere from $35,000 to $75,000. The arrested violators owed a total of more than $270,000 in back child support.