DENVER (KDVR) — After several items of MLB equipment from a myriad of teams went missing after they played against the Colorado Rockies in 2020, the investigation led to many dead ends until the culprit was finally caught, according to a new article by Sports Illustrated.
The first team to notice was the San Francisco Giants. After a series against the Rockies in September 2020, the Giants found that two jerseys, belonging to Johnny Cueto and Pablo Sandoval, were missing.
Then, after that, the San Diego Padres noticed that they were missing two jerseys that belonged to Fernando Tatis Jr., Sports Illustrated said. A pair of batting gloves from Tatis was also missing.
Later, the Giants players’ jerseys were found for sale on eBay, and the listing said the jerseys were acquired when the team was in Colorado. A few days after that, there was another listing for the missing Padres gear.
Several possibilities were looked into, Sports Illustrated reported, going into detail about the precautions the Rockies began to take as a result of the thefts. Employees were looked into and ruled out, as well.
The person behind one of the listings told police they bought the memorabilia from someone else in order to resell it for a profit.
The person they bought it from was identified as someone who was, at the time, a worker at Denver International Airport.
According to a police report obtained by Sports Illustrated, the suspect worked in loading and unloading equipment for private charter flights. The baggage handler said they wore compression tights and sweatpants to pull off the thefts, stuffing jerseys in the tights and letting the baggy sweatpants camouflage the bumps.
In all, the suspect took memorabilia from four teams: The Giants, the Padres, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland Athletics.
Sports Illustrated reported the suspect was charged with a Class 4 felony, but later pleaded to a lesser charge and received a year of probation.
FOX31 requested police reports for the case but was told there were no records associated with it. A further look into court records revealed they had been sealed on Monday, the same day the Sports Illustrated story was published.