Former Heat employee charged after stealing $2 million worth of game-worn jerseys

A former Miami Heat employee is reportedly being charged with stealing millions of dollars worth of team gear over a 10-year span.

TMZ Sports reported Tuesday that a 62-year-old man named Marcos Thomas Perez is being charged with a felony by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida. The DA’s office alleges that Perez stole hundreds of pieces of Heat memorabilia from a Kaseya Center equipment room during his stint as a Heat security officer beginning in 2016. He later became an NBA security employee, which allowed him to continue the operation until 2025.

The equipment room inside Kaseya Center, the Heat’s home arena, housed hundreds of game-worn jerseys and other memorabilia that the team planned to display in a future team museum.

Perez allegedly sold the items on online marketplaces, earning as much as $2 million over three years from just 100 sales. However, the actual worth of the items far exceeded what Perez was able to pocket.

One of the most high-profile items Perez was said to have stolen was a LeBron James game-worn jersey from the NBA Finals, which a buyer reportedly resold at a Sotheby’s auction for $3.7 million. The total made the item the most expensive LeBron game-worn jersey ever sold. Perez’s initial sale of the item was for $100,000.

Per the report, law enforcement raided Perez’s home on April 3 and discovered almost 300 other items. Previous reports had listed Perez as a potential suspect in the elaborate scheme under investigation by the FBI. He appeared in court on Tuesday and was charged with one count of transporting and transferring stolen goods in interstate commerce.