Former Miami Heat Security Officer Reportedly Stole 400+ Game-Worn Jerseys: Made $2 Million From 100+ Sales, Including LeBron James' NBA Finals Jersey

A former Miami Heat security officer has landed himself in hot water with the authorities. The U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Florida announced that Marcos Thomas Perez, 62, is being accused of stealing over 400 game-worn jerseys and other memorabilia worth millions of dollars from the Heat.

Perez has been charged with transporting and transferring stolen goods in interstate commerce and appeared in federal court on Tuesday. He is alleged to have sold over 100 of the stolen items at online marketplaces for approximately $2 million over a three-year period.

The charging document states Perez sold the items at well below market rate and cited a LeBron James jersey as an example. James' game-worn jersey from Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals was sold for approximately $100,000, and it later fetched $3.7 million at a Sotheby’s auction in 2023. It was the third-most expensive game-worn jersey sold at Sotheby's at the time. 

According to the document, nearly 300 game-worn jerseys and pieces of memorabilia were recovered when law enforcement searched Perez's residence on April 3.

The Heat have confirmed that the items were stolen from their facility. Perez, who worked for the Miami Police Department from November 1992 to April 2016, was employed by the Heat from 2016 to 2021. 

"During his tenure, Perez worked on the game-day security detail at the Kaseya Center, where he was among a limited number of trusted individuals with access to a secured equipment room. This equipment room stored hundreds of game-worn jerseys and other memorabilia that the organization intended to display in a future Miami Heat museum."

Perez had also worked for the NBA as a security employee from 2022 to 2025, and it remains to be seen what punishment will be handed out to him if he is convicted. FBI Miami is investigating this case at present.