Man named in Brady jersey case sought autographs, selfies
PHOTO BY AP
MEXICO CITY — The Mexican media executive suspected of stealing Tom Brady’s jersey went to the Super Bowl as a working journalist but spent the week collecting selfies and autographs from football greats and boasting to colleagues that he was there as a fan.
Mexican journalists who were in Houston for the game and interacted with Martin Mauricio Ortega, former director of the tabloid La Prensa, told The Associated Press that he brought multiple NFL memorabilia items, including a Kurt Warner jersey he hoped to sell to the former quarterback for thousands of dollars.
“When I met him he was carrying a football helmet and he was bragging about having the signatures of former Super Bowl MVPS, and he was a little disappointed that Marshall Faulk refused to sign it,” said Ariel Velazquez, who covered the game for the Mexican daily El Universal. “He also said that he was not there to work: ‘There are people here to do that.”’
Brady’s jersey went missing from the Patriots’ locker room after the game, and set off an investigation that stretched from Boston to the border. Working with U.S. investigators, Mexican authorities obtained a search warrant and recovered the jersey March 12, along with another Brady jersey that disappeared after the 2015 Super Bowl. A helmet belonging to a Denver Broncos player was also discovered, according to NFL spokesman Brian Mccarthy.
Broncos spokesman Patrick Smyth said the team was in touch with NFL security because the helmet may belong to Von Miller, MVP at the 2016 Super Bowl. Ortega may have tried to sell it: A memorabilia dealer told the AP Tuesday that Ortega once asked him how much the helmet would be worth.
A Mexican government official confirmed that the person targeted in the search warrant was Ortega. Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, the official said he was not detained because there were no charges against him.