Former Heat security official pleads guilty to memorabilia theft
A former Miami Heat security officer pleaded guilty this Tuesday to transporting and transferring millions of dollars in jerseys and other valuables stolen from the franchise.
Marcos Thomas Pérez, 62 years old, is a retired veteran of the Miami Police Department, where he worked for 25 years. Pérez worked for the Heat from 2016 to 2021 and as an NBA security employee from 2022 to 2025.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the FBI in Miami, Pérez stole more than 400 jerseys and other items from a secure equipment room and sold the items through various online marketplaces. He had access to these items due to his job on the game day security team at the Kaseya Center.
He was one of the few employees with access to a secure equipment room where the memorabilia that the Heat organization planned to exhibit in a future team museum was kept.
Over a three-year period, authorities say Pérez sold more than 100 stolen items for approximately $1.9 million and shipped them across state lines, often at bargain prices. He is said to have sold a Miami Heat jersey worn by LeBron James during the NBA Finals for approximately $100,000. That jersey later sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $3.7 million.
