A Montgomery County man charged with scamming multiple people in Lancaster County and elsewhere out of thousands of dollars in schemes to sell phony NFL tickets will have one of his cases proceed to county court after waiving his preliminary hearing last month.

Paul Grant Murray, of Whitemarsh Township, waived one of his preliminary hearings before Judge Courtney Monson on Sept. 17 on a single count of theft by deception.

Murray, 27, is accused of having approached two Manheim Township residents in July with an offer to sell them five season tickets to Philadelphia Eagles home games in exchange for money. The victims handed Murray a check for more than $9,400 which was quickly deposited, though Murray never produced the tickets in exchange.

Over the next several weeks Murray provided the victims with various reasons as to why he didn’t possess the tickets and ultimately offered a refund of the money, though he later said he would not be able to return the funds and eventually disabled notifications from the victims.

One of the victims sent Murray a certified letter in late July giving him another opportunity to return the funds, which he never provided.

An almost identical set of circumstances had already unfolded in Lancaster County in April. Murray faces another preliminary hearing before Judge Joseph Stauffer in October on one count each of theft by deception and bad checks on that matter.

In this second case, Murray is accused of scamming three Penn Township residents out of a combined $4,400 in exchange for Eagles season tickets which he never provided. Murray, an acquaintance of one of the victims, claimed to work for a sports gambling company and that he often sold extra tickets at a discounted rate.

Similar to the Manheim Township incident, Murray provided the victims with various reasons as to why he didn’t possess the tickets. In early June Murray provided the victims with a check for part of the money they had paid him, though the victims later learned the bank account associated with the check had been closed long before it was issued.

When the victims contacted the sports gambling company Murray claimed to work for they were told he was no longer affiliated with them.

Authorities in Bucks and Montgomery counties have also charged Murray with similar offenses for nearly identical allegations involving sports and concert tickets.

Murray is currently free on a combined $19,500 unsecured bail for the two different Lancaster County offenses.

Manheim Township Police Officer Adam Lawson and Northern Lancaster County Regional Police Officer Jacob Davis filed the charges.

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.