Aformer Miami Heat security employee appeared in federal court Tuesday accused of selling used jerseys and other stolen valuables from the Kaseya Center arena where the NBA franchise plays its games, and the defendant resold them across the country, making up to $2 million.
The accused, Marcos Thomas Perez, a 62-year-old manfrom Miami, was tried for stealing the team’s property, which he then transported to his home, from where he illegally sold them online before sending the stolen garments by mail to buyers for large sums of money.
A joint statement from the Southern District of Florida and the FBI in Miami said authorities executed a search warrant at Perez’s residence on April 3 and seized nearly 300 game-worn jerseys and other valuable items. The Heat later confirmed that the items had been stolen from their facilities.
He sold cheap to get rid of the goods quickly
The indictment stated that Perez sold the items to intermediaries over the internet. Authorities claim that “for at least three years the defendant sold more than 100 stolen items worth approximately $2 million and shipped them across state lines,” often at very affordable prices to get rid of the merchandise quickly.
Although there were some exceptions with some garments that were particularly lucrative, such as a Miami Heat jersey worn by LeBron James during the NBA Finals that the defendant sold for around $100,000. That same jersey was later sold at an official Sotheby’s auction for $3.7 million.
Perez, a 25-year retired veteran of the Miami Police Department, worked for the Heat from 2016 to 2021 and then became a security employee of the NBA itself from 2022 to 2025, working on the game day security team at the Kaseya Center.
With access to the equipment room
He was one of the few employees with access to a secure equipment room that stored memorabilia that the organization intended to display in a future museum for the team. Documents indicate that Perez accessed the equipment room to steal, in total, more than 400 game-worn jerseys and other valuable items from the franchise.
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