Marcos Thomas Perez, a retired veteran of the City of Miami Police Department, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to a federal charge of selling hundreds of stolen Miami Heat game-worn jerseys and other memorabilia worth millions of dollars to online brokers over the past three years.
Authorities said that in one transaction, Perez sold a game-worn LeBron James Miami Heat NBA Finals jersey for about $100,000 — a jersey that later sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $3.7 million.
Perez, 62, a former Heat security officer, was granted a $250,000 bond and released from custody after his first appearance in Miami federal court on Tuesday afternoon.
Arrested by the FBI, Perez was charged with the transporation of stolen goods, which carries up to 10 years in prison. The charging document was an “information,” a telltale sign in federal court that he’s cooperating with investigators and prosecutors and plans to change his initial plea to guilty in the future. He formally waived indictment by a grand jury.
His defense attorney, Robert Buschel, declined to comment on Wednesday.
The one-count information, filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Moore, provided few details of Perez’s alleged fencing of the valuable Heat-worn jerseys and memorabilia. However, the document noted that the one-time Heat securitiy officer knew the “paraphernalia” was “taken from the Kaseya Center in Miami” before he engaged in interstate commerce to sell the “stolen” merchandise online.
25-year Miami Police veteran
Besides working for 25 years with the Miami Police Department, Perez was employed as a security officer with the Heat from 2016 until 2021 and worked as an NBA security employee from 2022 until 2025.
“During his tenure, Perez worked on the game-day security detail at the Kaseya Center, where he was among a limited number of trusted individuals with access to a secured equipment room,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami said in a news release. “This equipment room stored hundreds of game-worn jerseys and other memorabilia that the organization intended to display in a future Miami Heat museum.”
“During his employment, Perez accessed the equipment room multiple times to steal over 400 game-worn jerseys and other items, which he then sold to various online marketplaces,” the release said. “Over a three-year period, Perez sold over 100 stolen items for approximately $2 million and shipped them across state lines, often for prices well below their market value.”
The City of Miami Police Department hired Perez in November 1992; he retired In April 2016. After patrol, he worked in various departments, including Internal Affairs and Office of Emergency Management, his last assignment. Perez was popular, former police department co-workers said.
Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Perez’s residence on April 3 and seized almost 300 additional stolen game-worn jerseys and memorabilia, the press release said. The Heat confirmed to investigators that these items had been stolen from Kaseya Center.
Miami U. S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne and Miami FBI Special Agent in Charge Brett D. Skiles announced Perez’s arrest on Tuesday. The FBI is the lead investigator, with Miami Police assisting.
LeBron, Shaq, Wade jerseys stolen: Source
The federal investigation was launched in early 2024, with the stolen game-worn Heat memorabilia sold over a multi-year period, according to a source. The stolen items include game-worn gear from high-profile players such as LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade, among others, and are believed to be worth millions of dollars.
Meadowlark Media’s Amin Elhassan first reported the news of the investigation on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz” last week.
When asked for comment last week, a Heat spokesperson said: “We cannot comment on an ongoing investigation.” The Heat also declined to comment on the arrest of Perez.
The NBA has not responded to the Herald’s queries.
When asked for an incident report, a spokesperson from the Miami Police Department said, “This is an FBI investigation.”
The Heat, which is in the middle of its offseason, is scheduled to hold its annual media day on Sept. 29 before opening training camp on Sept. 30 to kick off the 2025-26 season.
Miami Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this story.