As Joe Burrow and the Bengals played a December road game against the Cowboys last season, burglars broke into the Cincinnati quarterback's home, stealing personal items. Burrow was one of a number of pro athletes—a list that includes Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Luka Doncic, Mike Conley and others—to become victims of a South American crime ring that reportedly targeted professional athletes while they were away from their homes during games. The items taken from his house had a reported value of around $300,000, according to an unsealed FBI document obtained by ESPN.
Dimitriy Nezhinskiy, a New York City pawn shop owner and New Jersey resident, pleaded guilty over his connection to the ring, the U.S. Attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York said, per ESPN.
Nezhinskiy's guilty plea comes to one count of conspiracy to receive stolen property, as he purchased and intended to sell expensive valuables taken from the homes, "including high-end watches, jewelry and handbags." He faces up to five years in prison, restitution of around $2.5 million and will forfeit over $2.5 million. A native of the nation of Georgia, Nezhinskiy may also face deportation.
"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 Christopher Raia said in a statement, via ESPN. "His purchases perpetuated a ripple of criminality targeting residences and business across the country."
New York police commissioner Jessica Tisch said that Nezhinskiy "ran a black-market pipeline" that targeted the homes of those like Burrow in expensive neighborhoods as well as jewelry vendors and other businesses.
Three men were arrested in connection to the burglaries in Ohio, including that of Burrow's home, and indicted in February by a federal grand jury in Cincinnati.
"I feel like my privacy has been violated in more ways than one. And way more is already out there than I would want out there and that I care to share, so that's all I got to say about that," Burrow said after the December burglary. "We live a public life and one of my least favorite parts of that is the lack of privacy. And that has been difficult for me to deal with my entire career. Still learning. But I understand it's the life that we choose. Doesn't make it any easier to deal with."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Pawn Shop Owner Pleads Guilty to Selling Stolen Joe Burrow Property From Home Burglary.
