Protecting No. 12
Tom Brady won’t let his jersey get stolen again.
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Tom Brady has a plan to ensure his jersey doesn’t get stolen again after this year’s Super Bowl.
A year after the most infamous heist in NFL history, the New England Patriots quarterback has resolved that his No. 12 won’t leave his company at the end of Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Well, as long as the outcome turns out the way he wants it to.
“I am taking it with me, man … if we win,” Brady said Tuesday. “If we lose I am throwing it in the garbage, and if we win I am taking it. So hopefully we win.”
A year ago, fresh from having engineered a stunning smash-and-grab victory against the Atlanta Falcons, Brady’s celebrations turned a little sour when he realized the sweat-stained number he’d just worn at NRG Stadium was missing from the bag next to his locker.
The moments after a Super Bowl victory are typically frenetic, and even more so when the winner has come from 25 points down to engineer a revival for the ages.
Brady first parted company with the jersey just before taking the on-field podium to collect his MVP award and to hoist the Super Bowl trophy. He peeled off his shoulder pads, with the jersey on top of them, handed them to a team official and pulled on a Super Bowl champions T-shirt.
When the on-field festivities ended, Brady made his way to the locker room and found the jersey and pads. He tugged the jersey free, stuffed it in a plastic bag and put it deep in his black leather bag. The reason, he said later, was that a previous Super Bowl jersey had gone missing.
Brady then departed for a press conference, before returning to get changed and continue the celebrations. It was at this point that he discovered the theft.
I’d been assigned to write a postgame story on Brady, and so shadowed him for much of the period that followed the game’s end. Having listened to his press conference, I waited at his locker, where he soon appeared after stopping to hug various teammates and members of the Patriots organization.
When he sat down he was smiling broadly. That quickly changed. Clearly agitated, he dug deeper into his bag, emptying the contents to try to find the plastic bag and the jersey. He called over a member of security and an equipment manager, and grew more and more frustrated. He told team owner Robert Kraft and teammate Chris Hogan what was bothering him.
The more he spoke the more the picture became clear. I quickly sent a series of text messages to an editor who turned them into a story and published it while I stayed near Brady.
Patriots staffers and security officials were still flapping about, one bandying around the idea that all news media should be searched before they were allowed to leave the locker room.
That didn’t happen, and in any case, the culprit was long gone. He was Martin Mauricio Ortega, director of La Prensa, a Mexico City newspaper. Ortega had slipped into the clubhouse earlier, sneaking in behind Bill Belichick and his girlfriend, Linda Holliday. He went unchallenged, perhaps because all eyes were on Belichick, perhaps because his long tie obscured his credential.
Houston police were embarrassed and began an investigation, valuing the jersey at more than $300,000. A week later, the FBI was involved, two members of its Boston office meeting with NFL and Patriots security personnel to review video footage. During the meeting, a tip came in, passed along from Dylan Wagner, a 19-year-old memorabilia collector from Seattle. Wagner had been in contact with Ortega regarding various items – and Ortega’s photographs of his extensive collection had caused Wagner to grow suspicious enough to contact the authorities.
In mid-March, Mexican law enforcement officers went to Ortega’s house. He handed over Brady’s jersey, plus the player’s top from Super Bowl XLIX, and finally, Von Miller’s game-worn helmet from Super Bowl 50. He was not taken into custody.
The 2017 jersey was authenticated by forensics experts in Mexico and in the U.S., then presented to the Patriots.
On April 3, Kraft gave it to Brady at the owner’s house. That afternoon, at opening day for the Boston Red Sox season, Brady held it aloft at Fenway Park.
By November it was time for the Pats to go to Mexico, where they played the Oakland Raiders in a regular-season game at the Estadio Azteca. While there covering the game, I tried to find Ortega, to see what had become of him.
I went to Ortega’s last registered address. There was no one home, and no sign the mail had been collected recently. A neighbor said it had indeed been Ortega’s property, then gave me a forwarding address that was another dead end.
Ortega, as long as he does not travel to the United States, does not seem to be in danger of prosecution. Houston police may still hope for him to be extradited, but it is unlikely to happen. Ortega quit his job, according to SI.com, has had his U.S. visa revoked and been banned by the NFL for life.
The story gained a lot of attention. The whole bizarre saga may have influenced how the NFL handles elements of its post-game security, certainly added a wacky postscript to an incredible game and, if the Patriots win on Sunday, ensured that Brady will keep this year’s jersey close.