How Federal Charges for Pawn Shop Owners Fit Into Wider String of Athlete Burglaries

Two men who ran a New York City pawn shop have pleaded guilty in federal court to actively participating in the sale of stolen goods, including items taken from the homes of athletes like Joe Burrow.

Dimitriy Nezhinskiy and Juan Villar each pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of New York to conspiring to receive stolen property transported through interstate commerce. Nezhinskiy made his admission Friday, while Villar pleaded guilty on June 16. Federal agents say Nezhinskiy and Villar ran a fencing operation that linked them to at least two dozen home and commercial burglaries between 2019 and 2025, after which they would buy the stolen items for cash.

Since September 2024, more than 20 athletes are known to have been targeted by a home burglary across the country. Many of these incidents happened during a game while the athlete’s home was empty. Burglars have taken expensive jewelry, watches, purses, cash, and other items. Certain areas like Minneapolis and Seattle have seen multiple athletes hit.

In January, four men were arrested and indicted in Ohio after being found with an LSU shirt and Bengals hat in their car. Later that month, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida filed charges against those men and three others tied to numerous athlete burglaries, including the homes of Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Bobby Portis, Jr. That filing was unsealed in February.

Nezhinskiy, 43, and Villar, 48, aren’t new characters in the story of recent athlete home burglaries. Their names were first raised as possible members of the crime ring when they were arrested in early February. Investigators at the time said their phone usage connected them to some of the men arrested in Ohio.

Nezhinskiy and Villar are accused of a wider theft operation than the seven men facing federal charges in Florida, but it’s believed the two groups worked together to steal from athletes including Burrow. The Bengals quarterback was hit in December during a Monday Night Football game in Dallas.

Burrow’s situation and the federal charges linked to it have launched him to the forefront of the athlete burglary conversation. On Netflix’s “Quarterback,” Burrow, 28, said he is no longer purchasing a replica Batmobile following the burglary, and described the aftermath of the incident as “very uncomfortable.”

“My life is very public,” Burrow said on the show. “That comes with the job, but there’s certain parts of your life that are yours. Your house is one of those.”

Nezhinskiy faces up to five years in prison, restitution of about $2.5 million, and forfeiture of more than $2.5 million. Nezhinskiy, who is from the country of Georgia and living legally in the U.S., could also face deportation.

“This defendant ran a black-market pipeline, buying stolen luxury goods from organized theft crews that targeted homes and businesses,” NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement. “It was a deliberate operation that helped professional burglars prey on innocent people.”

In Seattle, Earl Henderson Riley IV has been charged with robbing the homes of Luis Castillo, Blake Snell, Richard Sherman, and Julio Rodriguez. His case has not been linked to the individuals charged in Florida and New York. In other incidents like the athlete burglaries in Minneapolis or Dallas, a suspect has not been named.