A former Miami Heat security officer has been sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered to pay $1.9 million in restitution after pleading guilty to transporting and transferring stolen goods across state lines, the Associated Press reported Friday.
Marcos Tomas Perez, 62, pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Florida in August after being accused by federal officials of stealing more than 400 game-used jerseys from the Heat facilities.
Perez had previously worked as a police officer for the city of Miami for 25 years before his employment with the Heat from 2016 to 2021 and then as an NBA security employee from 2022 to 2025.
“This defendant was a former police officer who betrayed the public trust and exploited his access to our beloved hometown team for personal gain,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones said in a statement, per the AP. “The Miami Heat represent excellence built through hard work and discipline in South Florida — and this conduct was the opposite.”
According to allegations from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Perez stole jerseys and other items from a secured equipment room and sold them to online brokers, including more than 100 stolen items over a period of three-plus years for which he garnered $1.9 million, often selling items below market value.
Perez, who was sentenced earlier this month, allegedly had access to the equipment room because he worked game-day security at the Kaseya Center. The equipment room had memorabilia set aside for a future Heat museum.
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A court filing related to the plea agreement alleged Perez would tell a co-worker he had to use the bathroom (or offer another excuse) and take the key, open the equipment room and leave the door propped open before returning the key. Later, he would return to steal items from the room.
According to the same document, Perez utilized a third-party liaison to broker the deals, splitting the profits. Then he used his corporate entity, South Florida Signature Authenticators Incorporated, to sell the items. Platforms identified in the document as venues for him advertising and negotiating deals include OfferUp, eBay and Instagram.
The most notable example cited by the U.S. Attorney’s Office was LeBron James’ jersey from Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals, which he sold for $100,000. That jersey would go on to fetch $3.7 million in an auction at Sotheby’s.
Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Perez’s home April 3, recovering nearly 300 additional stolen game-worn jerseys and memorabilia, which the Heat confirmed had been stolen from its facility, according to the statement.