MIAMI — A former Miami Heat safety officer accused of promoting stolen jerseys and different memorabilia value tens of millions of {dollars} made his preliminary look in federal courtroom on Tuesday.
Marcos Thomas Perez, 62, of Miami, was charged with transporting and transferring stolen items in interstate commerce.
A joint announcement from the Southern District of Florida and the Miami FBI stated regulation enforcement executed a search warrant at Perez’s residence on April 3 and seized about 300 stolen game-worn jerseys and different beneficial memorabilia. The Warmth confirmed the gadgets had been stolen from their facility.
The charging doc stated Perez offered the gadgets to on-line brokers. Over a three-year interval, authorities say Perez offered greater than 100 stolen gadgets for roughly $2 million and shipped them throughout state traces, usually at cut price costs.
They are saying Perez offered a Miami Warmth jersey worn by LeBron James in the course of the NBA Finals for roughly $100,000. That very same jersey later offered at a Sotheby’s public sale for $3.7 million.
Perez, a 25-year retired veteran of the Miami Police Division, labored for the Warmth from 2016 to 2021 and as an NBA safety worker from 2022 to 2025.
Perez labored on the game-day safety element on the Kaseya Middle. He was amongst just some workers with entry to a secured tools room that saved memorabilia the group meant to show in a future crew museum. The paperwork say Perez accessed the tools room to steal, in all, greater than 400 game-worn jerseys and different gadgets.