An international crime ring may be behind burglaries targeting the homes of professional athletes across the US, although experts caution that local groups could also be responsible.
In recent weeks, several NFL players and an NBA player have been robbed while traveling for games, including Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce and his teammate Patrick Mahomes.
The FBI is investigating whether the burglaries could be connected to a transnational crime operation with links to South America, a source familiar with the investigation told the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
“It’s a transnational crime ring, and over the last three weeks, they’ve focused on NBA and NFL players, and it’s all over the country,” a source familiar with the situation told NFL.com.
But Michael Tabman, a former FBI special agent, said there could be a simpler explanation.
“It could be possible that you have some capable burglars in Kansas City who maybe have some inside information,” he said. “And you’ll notice, when a crime starts getting covered a lot, it starts popping up elsewhere, so like a copycat.”
The BBC has contacted the FBI and Kansas City police for comment.
The burglaries have been taking place across the country. Kelce’s home was robbed on 7 October as he was starting a game against the New Orleans Saints. Officials said $20,000 (£15,900) in cash was stolen from his $6m home.
A burglary was also discovered at Dallas Cowboys player Linval Joseph’s home on Monday, while Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis was robbed earlier this month.
The athletes make for easy targets in part because they have valuable belongings and public schedules, security experts said.
“In any professional football event, for instance, there’s 106 players, 53 on each team, that are not going to be home, not including coaches. And some of those players may have very lucrative contracts and live in nice places,” said former FBI agent Jeff Lanza.
The NFL has been warning players about the crimes, sending a memo this week which said “organised and skilled groups” appeared to be targeting them. The memo said the groups were tracking the players’ whereabouts on social media and through public records.
It said criminals had been conducting surveillance by posing as joggers, maintenance workers or delivery people, eventually gaining access to the homes through side doors or even scaling walls to get through windows and balconies.
Those details suggests the criminals have some level of sophistication, Mr Lanza said.
“You’d have to have people that would maybe do some surveillance to see the comings and goings of the potential targets, that no one else is home, maybe people to understand if there’s an alarm system that’s been employed,” he said.
Mr Lanza said the FBI’s involvement in the investigation – which would normally be handled by local officials – suggests the crimes are “more orchestrated and organised and tied to a bigger organisation”.
But other explanations are also likely, he said.
“It could be some punks that just know the Chiefs are playing that day and that Patrick Mahomes and Kelce are going to be at the stadium, along with their families, because they show them on TV,” he said.
Mr Tabman, meanwhile, said law enforcement are likely to catch whoever is behind the thefts, especially if they are able to track down items that were stolen and are being sold.
Police have already found a watch stolen from Kelce’s Missouri home, ABC News reported.
“You’ll pull on that one thread that will make this unravel,” Mr Tabman said. “It won’t happen tomorrow, but I believe there’s a very good chance that the FBI, in co-operation with local law enforcement, will be able to break the case.” – BBC
By Madeline Halpert