A New York pawn shop owner has admitted to buying and selling luxury items stolen during a nationwide burglary ring, which included those taken last year from the home of Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.<\/p>\n
Dimitriy Nezhinskiy, 43, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of conspiracy to receive stolen property \u2014 including expensive watches, jewelry and handbags \u2014 in a Brooklyn federal court, the Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n
Burrow was among several high-profile athletes whose houses were targeted and robbed by what\u00a0have been described by the FBI as South American theft crews.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joe Burrow speaks onstage during Fanatics Fest NYC 2025 at Javits Center on June 21, 2025 in New York City. Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Cincinnati quarterback was playing a road game in Dallas in December when an estimated $300,000 worth of items were taken from his Ohio home.<\/p>\n
Chiefs teammates Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, and NBA stars Luka Don\u010di\u0107 and Mike Conley, were also victimized in the rash of robberies.<\/p>\n
Three men were arrested and indicted in February by a federal grand jury in Cincinnati, according to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, for multiple burglaries, including the one of Burrow\u2019s home.<\/p>\n
Joe Burrow looks on before a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium on January 04, 2025 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Joe Burrow is pictured during a Bengals practice May 13. AP<\/p>\n
No sentencing date has been set, but Nezhinskiy faces a maximum of five years in prison and restitution of roughly $2.5 million. <\/p>\n
The legal New Jersey resident also potentially faces deportation to the country of Georgia, District Judge William F. Kuntz said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis defendant ran a black-market pipeline, buying stolen luxury goods from organized theft crews that targeted homes and businesses,\u201d New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Friday in a statement. \u201cIt was a deliberate operation that helped professional burglars prey on innocent people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arraignment of Dimitriy Nezhinskiy and Juan Villar at Brooklyn Federal Court. The two are alleged to be running a fencing operation for a South American theft groups in the Manhattan Diamond District. Gabriella Bass<\/p>\n
Juan Villar, a 48-year-old Queens resident who ran the pawn shop with Nezhinskiy, had previously pleaded guilty in June to the same charge, according to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor more than five years, Dimitriy Nezhinskiy established a demand for stolen merchandise, which allowed South American Theft Groups to profit from repeated burglaries,\u201d FBI assistant director in charge Christopher Raia said in a statement. \u201cHis purchases perpetuated a ripple of criminality targeting residences and businesses across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nezhinskiy and Villar have not been charged in connection with the burglaries, but in searches of the pawn shop and storage units owned by Nezhinskiy in New Jersey police found sports memorabilia, artwork and other luxury merchandise suspected to be stolen in the robberies. <\/p>\n
They also uncovered power tools \u201cconsistent with those commonly used in burglaries and opening safes,\u201d according to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n