The sports memorabilia industry is worth billions of dollars, and fans flock to conventions to buy a piece of history. Some of that memorabilia also goes to the Black Market. Here’s a Tom Brady story.
Tom Brady and the New England Patriots came from behind to defeat the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51 in the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. After the game, Brady removed his pads with his jersey and gave it to security to return to the Patriots locker room. Brady did the trophy ceremony, walked into the locker room, saw his jersey, shoved it in his gym bag, and circulated around the locker room to greet players and do interviews. When he returned to his locker, his jersey was gone. He searched, as did security, but it was nowhere to be found.
Thief! (photo courtesy FS1 and Business Insider)
The next day, the Houston FBI field office and police opened an investigation. Thankfully, security cameras were in the locker room, and after reviewing the tape, one man stood out—Mauricio Ortega. A would-be buyer of Brady’s jersey, Dylan Boulanger, noticed that the jersey he was shown (Brady’s Super Bowl 49 jersey) included turf stains. He became suspicious after he heard that Brady’s Super Bowl 51 jersey had been stolen.
Boulanger contacted the FBI, and the agency reached out to retired FBI agent Brian Brusokas, who works on sports memorabilia fraud. Authorities learned that Ortega was in Mexico. Working with Mexico City police, Brusokas and the FBI located Ortega at his home. They found both of Brady’s Super Bowl jerseys, as well as Von Miller’s Denver Broncos helmet from Super Bowl 50. Authorities arrested Ortega and returned the jerseys to their rightful owners.
How did Ortega gain access to the locker room? He was a media insider, the one-time editorial director of the Mexican media outlet La Prensa.
