A New York pawn shop owner pleaded guilty to serving as a fence for luxury items stolen from wealthy homes nationwide by a burglary crew.
Among those burglarized was Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
Dimitriy Nezhinskiy, 43, of North Bergen, New Jersey, pleaded on a federal charge of conspiring to receive stolen property that had been transported in interstate commerce. Nezhinskiy admitted to knowingly purchasing stolen watches, jewelry and other high-end goods in order to resell them in his pawn shop.
Nezhinskiy maintained he did not know the items had been taken from people’s homes until after his arrest.
“I am very sorry for my actions,” Nezhinskiy said in Brooklyn federal court. “Most of my business was completely legitimate, and it was a good business.”
The FBI felt quite differently.
“For more than five years, Dimitriy Nezhinskiy established a demand for stolen merchandise, which allowed South American Theft Groups to profit from repeated burglaries,” FBI assistant director in charge Christopher Raia said in a statement. “His purchases perpetuated a ripple of criminality targeting residences and businesses across the country.
Burrow's home was burglarized while the Bengals quarterback was playing a December road game against the Dallas Cowboys.
And Burrow was not the only athlete whose home has been burglarized. A string of acts victimized Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Luka Dončić and Michael Conley Jr., among others.
Nezhinskiy faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, plus restitution of approximately $2.5 million, and forfeiture of more than $2.5 million, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of New York.
Additionally, he also faces deportation to his native country of Georgia.
Three men arrested in a series of burglaries, including the one of Burrow's home, were indicted in February by a federal grand jury in Cincinnati, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio.
Juan Villar, 48, who ran the pawn shop with Nezhinskiy, pleaded guilty to the same charge last month and will be sentenced in December. A sentencing date for Nezhinskiy has not been finalized yet. The two men had worked together since 2020.
Authorities stated the two men knowingly purchased stolen property, including jewelry, watches, handbags and other luxury items from burglary crews.
According to Yahoo, an undercover detective reportedly conducted seven controlled sales of purported stolen property to Nezhinskiy or Villar at their shop, explicitly telling them they were stolen before executing the sale.
Additionally, raids at the pawn shop and Nezhinskiy's storage units also yielded large quantities of suspected stolen property.
Burrow stated in the "Quarterback" documentary the burglary of his home led to him canceling his Batmobile replica purchase, which he previously had bought for $2.99 million.
Matt Liberman is a reporter and video producer for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.