Ex-Miami Heat security worker charged in massive memorabilia theft of game-worn jerseys
Marcos Thomas Perez, 62, is charged with transporting and transferring stolen goods in interstate commerce following an FBI investigation, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said Tuesday.
Perez, a retired 25-year veteran of the Miami Police Department, is accused of stealing jerseys and other memorabilia and selling the items to online brokers, authorities said.
Perez worked for the Heat from 2016 to 2021, and also worked as an NBA security employee from 2022 to 2025.
During that time, Perez accessed a secured equipment room at Kaseya Center multiple times, stealing over 400 game-worn jerseys and other items, authorities said.
The items were being kept by the team for a future Miami Heat museum.
Over three years, Perez sold over 100 stolen items for about $2 million, often selling them at prices well below market value, authorities said.
In one case, he sold a game-worn LeBron James Miami Heat NBA Finals jersey for approximately $100,000, and the same jersey later sold at a Sotheby's auction for $3.7 million, prosecutors said.
On April 3, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Perez's home and seized nearly 300 additional stolen game-worn jerseys and memorabilia, which the Heat confirmed had been stolen from their facility, prosecutors said.
Perez made his initial appearance in federal court on Tuesday.
Miami police confirmed Perez worked for the department from November 1992 to April 2016.
The massive theft was first reported by NBA insider Amin Elhassan on the popular sports podcast 'The Dan Le Batard Show' last month.
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