The NFL reportedly warned players this week that an organized international crime ring was believed to be behind a raft of recent break-ins at athletes’ homes, including Travis Kelce’s Leawood mansion.
NBC News, the Associated Press and other media outlets reported that a memo sent by the league this week to teams, as well as the players association, said a criminal syndicate based in South America is thought to be behind the incidents.
Celebrity gossip site TMZ was the first to report that both Kelce’s and fellow Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City area estates were burglarized on the night of the Chiefs’ home Monday Night Football game versus New Orleans in early October.
In addition, another NFL player Linval Joseph, who plays for the Dallas Cowboys, also had his home broken into. And at least two NBA players have also had their homes burglarized in recent weeks.
According to the NFL’s memo, which the Post has not independently obtained, the thieves use publicly accessible data and “extensive surveillance,” while also monitoring team schedules and activities on social media and elsewhere, to figure out when athletes’ homes are likely to be unoccupied.
They then gain access to the homes, usually when games are occurring, quickly grab items that they can, including cash, jewelry and clothes, and leave.
A one-page incident report from Leawood Police shows the break-in at an address matching Kelce’s home was reported on Tuesday, Oct. 8.
Someone broke into Kelce’s home at 7:33 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 7, according to the document, the same night the Chiefs played the New Orleans Saints at Arrowhead Stadium.
The police report says $20,000 in cash was taken from Kelce’s home and a back door was damaged.
The total value of damages and stolen items from the incident are listed as $21,000 on the report.
ABC News reported Friday that watch believed to be Kelce’s turned up this week in Providence, Rhode Island.
Multiple media outlets also reported that Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ palatial new estate in Loch Lloyd, Missouri, was burglarized the same night.
Nobody was injured in either incident.
In its memo, the NFL suggested players take precautions to avoid becoming victims of property crimes, including avoiding posting in real time to social media, installing security cameras and keeping valuables out of sight.
