Ozzy Osbourne fans arrested at pre-party Police sting!

What they thought was a free pass to a party before an Ozzy Osbourne concert in Fargo last night turned out to be a ticket to jail.

36 people were arrested after falling for a law enforcement sting in Fargo.

Reporter Karena Lunday has the story…

3000 criminals with outstanding arrest warrants in Cass County… but only one in 6 are lucky winners. a free pass to a party before the ozzie osbourne concert. laney: we had a line of about 17-18 outside the door by the time we kicked it off.

Sheriff paul laney says the 36 winners who showed up to claim their prizes got exactly what the invitation promised…and much more. mitch burris: we offered admittance to the pre-bash party which they received.

Along with backstage passes and one of these empty gift bags…

burris: 18:01:50 they were also offered a photo which was a booking photo.

Sargent mitch burris says when deputies revealed their true identities some of the people arrested said they weren’t surprised…others were speechless.

mitch burris: one guy said is this punked i feel like i’m being punked. is this a joke?

And while some are calling the departments tactics tricky…sheriff laney says he’s just fighting creativity with creativity. he says fugitives use all kinds of clever ideas to hid from the law…so the law is using a few ideas of it’s own.

laney:its no different if you were looking at a Football game a baseball game or anything else we just took an event that was taking place in fargo to hold a pre-concert bash it’s not tied to that at all.

And laney says with such success…he’s not ruling out another creative sting in the future. making the odd’s of becoming a winner…even better.

And if you’re wondering if this can be considered entrapment, Laney says no.

His men did not aid or cause anyone to commit a crime.

Deputies arrested people who have already committed crimes.