NBA superstar Ja Morant has been unveiled as the latest victim of the nationwide burglary sting that hit Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Joe Burrow.
The Memphis Grizzlies point guard, who sparked controversy two years ago over gun-related incidents, is said to have had more than $1million worth of jewelry, watches and luxury bags stolen from his $3m Memphis mansion in December.
Morant is believed to be a victim of a nationwide string of heists targeting athletes, including Milwaukee Bucks player Bobby Portis Jr. among a number of NFL stars.
The 25-year-old has been named by the Daily Memphian as ‘Professional Athlete 6’ in the federal complaint that was unsealed earlier this week.
The complaint, which doesn’t specifically name Morant, states that a member of the Grizzlies was burgled between 4pm on December 19 and 1am on December 20.
At the time of the incident, Morant and the Grizzlies were playing the Golden State Warriors at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
NBA superstar Ja Morant has been unveiled as a victim of the nationwide burglary sting
Morant’s $3million Memphis mansion was reportedly broken into on the night of December 19
Travis Kelce was also among a slew of athletes believed to be targeted by the group
‘Detectives are actively investigating the case, pursuing leads, and working to identify those responsible,’ a spokesperson for Shelby County Sheriff’s Office told DailyMail.com. They would not confirm that the Grizzlies player in question was Morant.
Pablo Zuniga Cartes, Ignacio Zuniga Cartes, Bastian Jimenez Freraut, Jordan Quiroga Sanchez, Bastian Orellano Morales, Alexander Huiaguil Chavez, Sergio Ortego Cabello were named in the complaint as the seven suspected members of a Chilean theft ring accused of breaking into the homes of professional athletes.
US prosecutors on Wednesday revealed that they have been charged with conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property. The defendants face up to 10 years in jail if found guilty.
Morales, 23, Sanchez, 22, and Cabello, 38, had previously been federally charged in relation to the December 9 robbery of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Burrow’s $7.5million mansion.
The FBI were able to catch the alleged criminals after they committed a series of rookie mistakes.
According to an FBI document obtained by ESPN, the accused thieves took photos with stolen items and posted them to an iCloud site for others to see.
Specifically, the FBI obtained photos that show three of the alleged burglars, along with an unidentified fourth man, displaying watches believed to be from the home of Portis Jr.
The FBI was reportedly able to access the iCloud account with a search warrant, and ESPN said the existence of the selfies is ‘largely’ the reason they are in federal custody.
A photo shows three of the charged gangsters posing with jewelry believed to have been taken from the home of NBA star Bobby Portis Jr.
Four men suspected of raiding Joe Burrow’s home allegedly posed in his jewelry afterwards
Additionally, some of the suspects also raised eyebrows when they were pulled over in January, after allegedly robbing the home of Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
When asked by a police officer where they were headed, the men – who did not speak English and were in a rental car – responded ‘Orlando.’
However, the officer informed them that they were going in the wrong direction. A passenger in the back then said they were going to New York, before reverting his answer back to Florida.
The men were arrested after officers searched the car and found a crowbar and ‘window punches,’ while video of the stop also shows the officer pulling what look to be Burrow’s items – such as an LSU T-shirt – from the trunk.
FBI officials later tracked the license plate of the rental car and determined that it had been in Cincinnati, while also using cell tower data to determine that at least one of the defendants had been in the rental car.
The authorities released a photo in early February showing four men – three of whom are believed to be the suspects – posing on a bed surrounded by luxury designer bags.
Their faces had all been blurred out but one man could be seen wearing multiple chains around his neck, one featuring a No. 9 and another with a diamond-encrusted ‘JB9’ – Burrow’s jersey number and insignia. The signal caller has been previously seen wearing both designs.
In the complaint, released to the public on Tuesday, an FBI special agent stated: ‘Also of note is that P. Zuniga Cartes is wearing a Kansas City Chiefs shirt in the photo.’
Police bodycam footage of the moment four Chilean nationals were arrested in connection with the December burglary of Joe Burrow’s $7.5million home was released in January
Footage cuts to a trooper searching the vehicle and he pulls an LSU shirt out of a white bin liner
Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City-area properties were burglarized in October
He said that he believes it is in reference to the October 2024 burglaries of Kelce and Mahomes, which made headlines across America.
The FBI has also linked the seven men to the burglary of an unnamed Tampa Bay Buccaneers player while the team played against the Baltimore Ravens, in which the thieves are alleged to have stolen $167,000 worth of of luxury goods.
Morant’s Memphis mansion previously made headlines when he punched then-17-year-old Joshua Holloway during a pickup game of basketball in 2022.
However, Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Carol Chumney ruled in April last year that Morant acted in self-defense.
Meanwhile, Morant has endured a troubled fledgling career in the NBA, serving a 25-game suspension in 2023 over gun-related incidents.
On March 3 2023, Morant flashed a gun on an Instagram Live video in Shotgun Willie’s, a strip club in Glendale, Colorado, following a loss to the Denver Nuggets.
The move sparked severe backlash with the NBA handing down an eight-game suspension to Morant, who checked himself into a private counseling facility in Colorado.
But eight games seemingly weren’t enough to drive the message home. Just ten weeks later, Morant was caught in yet another gun-flashing incident.
The 25-year-old was suspended after flashing a firearm on an Instagram Live in March 2023
Morant was seen with a gun on an Instagram Live video for a second time in May 2023
This time, having not learnt his lesson, Morant was captured waving the firearm in a car on friend Davonte Pack’s Instagram Live.
Once again Morant faced blowback, this time bigger than ever. It was the second incident of this nature in three months and the league took its time deliberating its punishment, before Adam Silver landed on a 25-game suspension.
The NBA commissioner branded Morant’s conduct ‘alarming and disconcerting’ and ‘reckless and irresponsible,’ noting that the star is a role model for many children.
The ban forced Morant to miss a large chunk to start the 2023-24 season with the star finally making his return on December 19, 2023.