Grizzlies star Ja Morant was one of the NBA players targeted in a string of burglaries on professional athletes by a group of seven men from Chile.
The Daily Memphian has reported that “a senior law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation confirmed” Morant was “Professional Athlete 6” identified in an FBI complaint filed January 30 in Florida.
The FBI complaint doesn’t name the athletes and lists only the string of burglaries already made public – the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals, Bobby Portis of the Milwaukee Bucks, and players for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the NBA’s Grizzlies.
According to the complaint, the Grizzlies player’s home was burglarized sometime after 4 m. on December 19 – the same night the team beat the Warriors 144-93 in Memphis.
The burglars apparently stole “jewelry, watches and luxury bags valued” at about $1 million.
“On Dec. 20, 2024, at approximately 4 p.m., deputies responded to a residence in unincorporated Shelby County following a reported burglary at the home of a Memphis Grizzlies player,” SCSO Spokesman Lt. Joseph Fox said Thursday, Feb. 20. “Detectives are actively investigating the case, pursuing leads and working to identify those responsible. To protect the integrity of this investigation, we are unable to release the victim’s name or address during this active investigation.”
Some of these men were arrested in January after a traffic stop in Ohio on state charges for allegedly breaking into the home of Burrow – the Bengals quarterback.
They also made some errors that helped law enforcement catch them, it was revealed in a 20-page affidavit included in a federal criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday.
In the document, the FBI reports on out how the gang members were caught by allegedly posting photos for co-conspirators to see on an iCloud site.
Images released by the FBI show three of the alleged burglars, along with an unidentified fourth man, posing with watches that appear to be stolen from the home of Bucks forward Bobby Portis Jr.
The men are in federal custody, mainly thanks to the photographs, and have been charged with conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property.
The men could face up to ten years in prison.
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