A Seattle man was charged Friday with a string of burglaries on the houses of outstanding present and former soccer and baseball gamers, marking the most recent instance of well-known athletes being focused in house thefts.
Earl Henderson Riley IV, 21, was charged with a number of counts of residential housebreaking in each occupied and unoccupied houses, together with first-degree theft, in response to the King County Prosecuting Lawyer’s Workplace.
Prosecutors say Riley was the ringleader in a sequence of burglaries that began in February and concerned stealing greater than $6,000 in Louis Vuitton baggage from Seattle Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo’s house and over $194,000 in excessive finish purses and jewellery from the house of the crew’s heart fielder Julio Rodriguez.
The thefts additionally concerned taking a number of watches value greater than $100,000 from former Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman’s house and a housebreaking on the house of Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell, who’s from Washington, though nothing was stolen in that occasion, in response to courtroom paperwork.
Prosecutors say there was additionally an tried housebreaking at baseball Corridor of Famer Edgar Martinez’s house.
“All people deserve to feel safe in their homes, and our office will continue to hold people accountable for criminal behavior,” King County Prosecuting Lawyer Leesa Manion mentioned in an announcement.
There have been a slew of burglaries on the houses of well-known skilled athletes throughout the US in current months.
The gamers have been focused due to the high-end merchandise believed to be of their houses and typically the thefts occur when they’re away with their groups for highway video games.
The FBI has warned sports activities leagues about crime organizations focusing on skilled athletes.
The NFL and NBA have additionally issued safety alerts after burglaries on the houses of such star athletes as Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.
In a memo obtained by The Related Press in November, the NFL mentioned the houses {of professional} athletes throughout a number of sports activities have change into “increasingly targeted for burglaries by organized and skilled groups.”
Riley is being held within the King County Jail on $1 million bail. It was not instantly clear whether or not he has a lawyer.
The King County Division of Public Protection didn’t instantly reply to an e-mail from The Related Press and a spokesperson from the prosecuting lawyer’s workplace didn’t know whether or not Riley had a lawyer.
The costs had been the results of a monthslong investigation by which the county’s prosecuting lawyer’s workplace labored with six police jurisdictions.
Senior Deputy Prosecuting Lawyer Gary Ernsdorff mentioned in an announcement that their work shouldn’t be over.
“We still want to go and identify everybody who was involved and see if there are additional people that we can have sufficient evidence to charge,” he mentioned.
Riley is predicted to enter his preliminary plea in courtroom throughout his arraignment June 16.
He has one other pending case in King County Superior Court docket by which he’s charged with trying to elude a pursuing police car and illegal possession of a firearm within the first diploma.
