{"id":234699,"date":"2025-07-25T10:02:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T10:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/234699\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T10:02:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T10:02:12","slug":"pawn-shop-owner-pleads-guilty-for-fencing-stolen-items","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/234699\/","title":{"rendered":"Pawn shop owner pleads guilty for fencing stolen items"},"content":{"rendered":"

OHIO \u2014\u00a0A Manhattan pawn shop owner pleaded guilty Friday to serving as a fence for luxury items stolen from wealthy residences across the country, in a case that got attention because of its link to a burglary at the home of\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow<\/a>\u00a0while he was playing an away game last year.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

Dimitriy Nezhinskiy admitted to knowingly purchasing stolen watches, jewelry and other high-end goods
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Nezhinskiy pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to receive stolen property
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Prosecutors had previously described contacts between Nezhinskiy and a crew believed to be behind a burglary at Burrow\u2019s Ohio home last year<\/p>\n

\"Download<\/p>\n

Dimitriy Nezhinskiy admitted to knowingly purchasing stolen watches, jewelry and other high-end goods in order to re-sell them in his pawn shop. But he maintained that he did not know they had been taken from people\u2019s homes until after his arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very sorry for my actions,\u201d the 44-year-old New Jersey resident said in Brooklyn federal court. \u201cMost of my business was completely legitimate, and it was a good business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nezhinskiy pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to receive stolen property. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison as well as restitution of about $2.5 million and forfeiture of more than $2.5 million. He\u2019ll be sentenced at a later date.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis defendant ran a black-market pipeline, buying stolen luxury goods from organized theft crews that targeted homes and businesses,\u201d New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement. \u201cIt was a deliberate operation that helped professional burglars prey on innocent people.”<\/p>\n

Prosecutors had previously described contacts between Nezhinskiy and a crew believed to be behind a burglary at Burrow\u2019s Ohio home last year, though Nezhinskiy was not charged in relation to that theft.<\/p>\n

In a court memo, prosecutors said at least two members of that crew had been in contact with Nezhinskiy less than a week before the Dec. 9 burglary.<\/p>\n

Nezhinskiy, who was born in the nation of Georgia but has legal status in the U.S., could also face deportation, U.S. District Court Judge William Kuntz noted.<\/p>\n

Juan Villar, a New York resident who ran the pawn shop with Nezhinskiy, pleaded guilty to the same charge last month and will be sentenced in December.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said the shop in Manhattan\u2019s famed Diamond District fenced stolen goods for international burglary crews that targeted homes of wealthy households around the country.<\/p>\n

They say Nezhinskiy and Villar had been purchasing items from various crews and re-selling them from 2020 until the\u00a0FBI raided the storefront<\/a>\u00a0and arrested them in February.<\/p>\n

In late December, the FBI had warned about a string of burglaries at the homes of prominent NFL and NBA players, though athletes were not specifically identified as victims in Nezhinskiy and Villar\u2019s cases.<\/p>\n

The crews, many consisting of foreign nationals from South America, mostly hit homes while athletes were out of town, including while playing in\u00a0road games<\/a>, prosecutors have said. Targets also included the homes of NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce of the\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>, Luka Doncic of the NBA\u2019s Los Angeles Lakers and Mike Conley Jr. of the Minnesota Timberwolves.<\/p>\n

The investigation into the Burrow burglary spanned several states and led to at least six arrests.<\/p>\n

Nezhinskiy and Villar weren\u2019t charged in connection with specific robberies, but prosecutors said phone records link Nezhinskiy to one of the men charged with\u00a0ransacking Burrow\u2019s house<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors also say a large amount of suspected stolen property was found at the two men\u2019s business and at storage units in New Jersey belonging to Nezhinskiy, including luxury handbags, wine, sports memorabilia, jewelry, artwork and power tools commonly used for burglaries and opening safes.<\/p>\n

The break-in at Burrow\u2019s home happened on Dec. 9, 2024 while the Bengals were playing in Dallas. Police said a person arrived at the home to find a shattered bedroom window and the home ransacked. The person called her mother, who notified authorities, and was later revealed to be Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Olivia Ponton, not Burrow\u2019s previous girlfriend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like my\u00a0privacy has been violated<\/a>\u00a0in more ways than one,\u201d Burrow said afterward. \u201cWay more is out there than I would want out there and that I care to share.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police said they apprehended those burglars the following month after finding them in an SUV with a Louisiana State University shirt and a Cincinnati Bengals hat believed to be stolen from Burrow\u2019s home. Burrow played college football at LSU.<\/p>\n

Police also found photos the robbers took of themselves flashing some of the other spoils \u2014 jewelry, watches, designer luggage and glasses. One even wore necklaces with pendants showing \u201cJB9\u201d and the number 9 \u2014 Burrow\u2019s jersey number.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OHIO \u2014\u00a0A Manhattan pawn shop owner pleaded guilty Friday to serving as a fence for luxury items stolen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[14889,1613,2910,228,227,256,2296,7,88,6,996,14382,45204,45201,45203,45202,43,1614,1004],"class_list":{"0":"post-234699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-app-public-safety","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-associated-press","11":"tag-bengals","12":"tag-cincinnati","13":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","14":"tag-cincinnatibengals","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-ohio","19":"tag-ohio-cincinnati-bengals","20":"tag-ohio-cincinnati-top-stories","21":"tag-ohio-columbus-top-stories","22":"tag-ohio-dayton-top-stories","23":"tag-ohio-roh-top-stories","24":"tag-public-safety","25":"tag-spectrum-news-staff","26":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}