A former Miami Heat security officer and retired Miami police officer, Marcos Thomas Perez, has been hit with federal charges over a multimillion-dollar sports memorabilia heist. According to NBC Miami, Perez, age 62, faces a count of transporting and transferring stolen goods in interstate commerce after investigators uncovered his alleged theft of over 400 game-worn jerseys and other items, earmarked for a future Miami Heat museum.
Perez, who served as a Miami Heat employee from 2016 to 2021, and as an NBA security staff member from 2022 to 2025, reportedly used his access to the team's secured equipment room at Kaseya Center to carry out the thefts. During a three-year spree, Perez is accused of pocketing about $2 million by selling stolen memorabilia through online brokers. In a particularly notable instance, a LeBron James jersey sold for a fraction of its eventual auction value, fetching roughly $100,000 before soaring to $3.7 million at Sotheby's, according to details provided by the Department of Justice.
On April 3, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Perez's Miami residence, seizing nearly 300 more stolen items. The Heat organization later verified these articles as missing from their inventory. Perez faced the legal music at his initial federal court appearance yesterday, following the discovery of the stolen goods, as reported by CBS News.
The massive memorabilia theft was first brought to light by NBA insider Amin Elhassan during an episode of "The Dan Le Batard Show," where he stated, "As it was described to me, this is one of the largest, if not the largest, memorabilia heist in the history of this country. In any sport," as quoted by NBC Miami. The Heat have yet to respond publicly to the situation, and details about the case continue to emerge as the investigation unfolds.
