A former Miami Warmth safety officer has pleaded responsible in federal courtroom to a cost in connection to stealing workforce memorabilia value tens of millions of {dollars} and promoting the objects to on-line brokers.
Retired Miami police officer Marcos Tomas Perez appeared Tuesday at U.S. Superior Court docket for the Southern District of Florida and issued a responsible plea to transporting and transferring stolen items in interstate commerce, after pleading not responsible to the felony rely at an preliminary listening to earlier this month.
Perez’s lawyer, Robert Buschel, instructed NBC6 in Florida after Tuesday’s listening to that Perez is “depressed, naturally, however he accepts accountability for his habits and we’re gonna work by means of this subject in his life.”
Perez, 62, faces as much as 10 years in jail and a most advantageous of $250,000. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 31.
“I hope that the decide will contemplate all elements in his life and his historical past as a very good particular person,” Buschel mentioned. “He was an exemplary police officer within the metropolis of Miami, he’s been retired for near 10 years. This was an unlucky set of selections that he made and he’s going to simply accept accountability for that.”
Buschel declined to remark any additional when reached by The Occasions by way of e-mail Wednesday.
In response to a information launch by the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Southern District of Florida and the Miami subject workplace of the FBI, Perez has admitted to stealing a whole lot of game-worn jerseys and different memorabilia value tens of millions of {dollars} belonging to the Warmth and promoting them to on-line brokers.
One such merchandise was a jersey that LeBron James wore in Recreation 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals, throughout which James and the Warmth defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 to win their second consecutive championship. After Perez allegedly bought the jersey for round $100,000, it was bought in a web based public sale for $3.7 million in 2023.
In response to courtroom paperwork, different stolen objects included jerseys signed by former Warmth stars Dwyane Wade, Jimmy Butler, Chris Bosh, Alonzo Mourning and Shaquille O’Neal, in addition to workforce jackets, game-worn sneakers and extra.
