A New York City pawnshop owner has pleaded guilty to buying and selling luxury items stolen by a national burglary crew whose victims include Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, according to the US attorney's office in the eastern district of New York.
Burrow was playing an away game last December against the Dallas Cowboys when items were stolen from his home. The pattern of athletes' homes burgled while they were publicly scheduled elsewhere includes Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce and NBA stars Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers and Mike Conley Jnr of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The pawnshop owner, Dimitriy Nezhinskiy, 43, of North Bergen, New Jersey, pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of conspiracy to receive stolen property in a Brooklyn federal court. He admitted knowingly purchasing stolen property, including high-end watches, jewellery and handbags.
Nezhinskiy, whose sentencing date has not yet been determined, faces a maximum of five years in prison and restitution and forfeiture of more than $2.5m (R44.25m). In addition, because he is from the country of Georgia while legally living in the US, Nezhinskiy faces federal charges and the possibility of deportation, district judge William F Kuntz said.
“This defendant ran a black market pipeline, buying stolen luxury goods from organised theft crews that targeted homes and businesses,” New York City police commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a news release on Friday. “It was a deliberate operation that helped professional burglars prey on innocent people.”
Co-defendant Juan Villar, 48, who co-managed the pawnshop, pleaded guilty in June to the same charge, per Friday's news release. The two men worked together between 2020 and this year, according to the release, as “fences” to receive and buy stolen goods from outside New York. Villar, of Queens, New York, also is awaiting sentencing.
The news release said the South American theft group travelled the US and targeted homes in affluent neighbourhoods as well as jewellery vendors. The investigation involving multiple states has resulted in six arrests.
Nezhinskiy and Villar haven't been charged with specific burglaries. Police searched the pawnshop as well as storage units owned by Nezhinskiy in New Jersey and found suspected stolen property including sports memorabilia, artwork and fine wine as well as luxury goods and clothing and “power tools consistent with those commonly used in burglaries and opening safes”.
Three men arrested in a series of burglaries, including the one of Burrow's home, were formally charged in February by a federal grand jury in Cincinnati, according to the US attorney's office for the southern district of Ohio.
—Field Level Media
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.