[Around $30,000 worth of jewelry was stolen from Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic’s home, marking the latest in a string of recent similar burglaries impacting professional athletes. Dallas police responded to Doncic’s home around 10:30 p.m. on Friday, and the preliminary investigation indicates unknown suspects entered the home and stole items. The burglary occurred between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Friday, when Doncic was not home.
This is not an isolated incident, as several other professional athletes have had their homes burglarized in recent months. In October, the homes of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce were both burglarized. Mahomes’ house was burglarized sometime after midnight on October 6, and Kelce’s house was broken into the next evening.
NBA players’ homes have also been targeted. Mike Conley Jr., guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves, experienced a home break-in with stolen jewelry on September 15, and Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis shared in a November 3 Instagram post that many of his “prized possessions were stolen” when his house was burgled the night before.
Perpetrators appear to exploit team schedules to target athletes’ homes on game days, and seem to use social media, public records, media reports, and surveillance to get information on their targets. Some groups conduct extensive surveillance, including by making “attempted home deliveries” and “posing as grounds maintenance or joggers in a neighborhood.”
The FBI has reported that in most of the incidents, the homes were equipped with alarm systems that were not activated, and the homes were all unoccupied and, in most cases, no dogs were present. The NBA security officials received an FBI briefing that connected many burglaries of athletes’ and high-net-worth peoples’ homes to transnational South American Theft Groups.
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