The former heat security guard declares itself guilty of selling millions in stolen memorabilia, including Lebron James NBA Finals Jersey
A former Miami Heat security guard declared himself guilty on Tuesday in Florida for the transport and transfer of stolen goods in the interstatal trade, in relation to millions of dollars of memorabilia that was accused of having stolen from the team.
Announcement
Marcos Thomas Perez, 62, is a 25 -year -old veteran from the Miami Police Department and was employed by The Heat from 2016 to 2021. He also worked safely for the NBA from 2022 until this year.
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For NBC 6 South Florida, his sentence was set for October 31, when he will face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised freedom and a fine of up to $ 250,000. According to reports, his lawyer hopes that his years in the police encourage clemency:
“He is depressed, of course, but he accepts the responsibility for his behavior and we will work through this problem in his life,” said the defense lawyer Robert Buschel after the hearing.
“I hope the judge will take into consideration all the factors of his life and his story as a good person, he was an exemplary police officer in the city of Miami, he was withdrawn for almost 10 years,” said Buschel. “This was an unfortunate series of decisions that has made and will accept responsibility for this.”
According to reports, the third expensive shirt never sold was stolen from the heat. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
(Mike Ehrmann via Getty Images)
It was during his work period for the safety of the day at the Kaseya Center that Perez was presumably stolen hundreds of shirts worn and other memorabilia from a protected equipment room. The articles were maintained to be future exhibitions in a heat museum.
Announcement
According to the Doj count, Perez has stolen more than 400 shirts and sold over 100 online, gaining around $ 1.9 million in a period of 3 1/2 years.
The most remarkable dress: a Jersey Lebron James worn in the NBA finals, sold for about $ 100,000 and then was auctioned by Sotheby’s for $ 3.7 million. That shirt would have been the one that James wore during Heat’s victory in match 7 of the 2013 NBA finals, in which the Superstar obtained its second title and the MVP Award. At the time, it was the third highest price ever received for a shirt consumed by the game, behind a Michael Jordan shirt from the 1998 NBA finals ($ 10.91 million) and the “Hand of God” shirt by Diego Maradona ($ 9.28 million).
Announcement
According to reports, the police carried out a search mandate at Perez’s house in April and recovered almost 300 pieces of memorabilia, all which the heat confirmed that it came from their structure.