The former Heat security manager admits in court to steal shirts worth millions, say the federals
A former Miami Heat security officer declared himself guilty in federal court for an accusation of stealing team memorabilia for a value of millions of dollars and selling articles to online brokers.
Marcos Tomas Perez, a retired Miami police officer, appeared on Tuesday at the U.S. Court of the United States for the southern district of Florida and issued a reason for guilt for the transport and transfer of stolen goods in the interstatal trade, after declaring himself not guilty of the count of the crimes at the beginning of this month.
Perez’s lawyer Robert Buschel told NBC6 in Florida after Tuesday’s hearing that Perez is "Depressed, of course, but accepts responsibility for his behavior and we will work through this problem in his life."
Perez, 62, risks up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $ 250,000. It is scheduled to be sentenced on October 31st.
To find out more:The former Miami Heat employee accused of stealing shirts worth millions, including Lebron James’
"I hope the judge considers all the factors of his life and his story as a good person," Buschel said. "He was an exemplary police officer in the city of Miami, he was withdrawn for almost 10 years. This was an unfortunate series of decisions that made and accept responsibility."
Buschel refused to comment further when reached the Times via e -mail on Wednesday.
According to a press release from the American prosecutor’s office for the southern district of Florida and the Miami field office of the FBI, Perez admitted that he had stolen hundreds of shirts worn by the game and other memorabilia worth millions of dollars belonging to the heat and having sold them to online brokers.
One of these objects was a shirt that Lebron James wore in the game 7 of the 2013 NBA finals, during which James and Heat defeated San Antonio Spurs 95-88 to win the second consecutive championship. After Perez would have sold the shirt for about $ 100,000, he was sold on an online auction for $ 3.7 million in 2023.
According to the courts of the court, other stolen objects included jerseys signed by the former stars of Heat Dwyane Wade, Jimmy Butler, Chris Bosh, Alonzo Mourning and Shaquille O’Neal, as well as team jackets, sneakers worn and more.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.