Sports

(ANAHEIM, Calif.) — A California man has been arrested for the theft of an Olympic volleyball champion’s gold medal last month.

The medal, awarded to U.S. women’s volleyball starting setter Jordyn Poulter during the 2020 Tokyo Games, still has not been found, the Anaheim Police Department said in a statement.

Jordan Fernandez, 31, was charged with first-degree residential burglary, second-degree vehicle burglary, identity theft and possession of narcotics on Tuesday, the statement said.

Fernandez was arrested Friday and arraigned Tuesday, where he pleaded not guilty. Court records show that he was being held in custody.

“Subsequent to pursuing several investigative leads, APD investigators arrested Jordan Fernandez, a 31-year-old resident of Anaheim, for the theft of the gold medal,” the police department said.

Poulter is offering a $1,000 reward for the medal’s return with “no questions asked,” Anaheim police said.

According to police, the medal was stolen from Poulter’s car while it was parked in a garage.

The medal, awarded to Poulter as part of the the U.S. women’s volleyball team’s historic first Olympic win, was given after the Americans defeated Brazil in the delayed 2020 Tokyo Games in 2021.

Poulter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

Poulter, 24, was training in California and had been living in Anaheim when the theft occurred. She had left the medal in a bag inside her unlocked car before leaving it in a two-door garage with the door open, police said.

“I really unintentionally forgot to take it out,” Poulter told NBC on Tuesday.

After going inside for a quick Zoom call, Poulter returned to see the car’s center console open and found her bag missing, according to police. The medal, along with several other items, had been taken.

The medal was awarded to Poulter after her first and only Olympic performance so far.

Poulter told the Los Angeles Times she cares more about the emotional value of getting her medal back versus the lost monetary value, citing the medal as being worth less than one might assume.

According to the International Olympic Committee, there are around six grams of gold plating on the 2020 Tokyo gold medals, and the rest is pure silver. The average 2020 gold medal weighs about 556 grams total.

The Anaheim Police Department asks anyone with information on the medal’s whereabouts to contact the department at 714-765-1900 or the Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855-TIP-OCCS.

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(NEW YORK) — Gymnasts and other victims of sports doctor Larry Nassar, who was convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault of minors, as well as other charges, said they plan on Wednesday to file a series of tort claims against the Justice Department and the FBI seeking a collective total of about $1 billion, according to their legal team.

“The FBI knew that Larry Nassar was a danger to children when his abuse of me was first reported in September of 2015,” gymnast Maggie Nichols, a Team USA member and NCAA National Champion, said in a statement. “For 421 days they worked with USA Gymnastics and USOPC to hide this information from the public and allowed Nassar to continue molesting young women and girls. It is time for the FBI to be held accountable.”

The claimants include some of America’s most celebrated Olympic and Team USA gymnasts, including Nichols, Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney. This group includes former University of Michigan gymnast Samantha Roy and former gymnast and victim’s advocate Kaylee Lorincz.

The amount of damages sought differs by claimant, but the total claims could exceed $1 billion, according to a group of lawyers from Manly Stewart & Finaldi, Pitt McGehee Palmer Bonanni & Rivers, Grewal Law and Drew, Cooper & Anding, and Gruel Mills, the firms representing the clients.

Hundreds of young women and girls came forward to accuse Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics national team doctor, of inappropriate or criminal behavior. Nassar pleaded guilty in 2017 in connection with crimes against several victims and was sentenced to 60 years behind bars for child pornography and other charges. He again pleaded guilty in 2018 and was sentenced to an additional 40 to 175 years for multiple counts of sexual assault of minors.

At a September Congressional hearing, FBI Director Christopher Wray expressed outrage and sadness for the victims of Nassar’s abuse and FBI inaction.

A Department of Justice inspector general’s report found the FBI was notified of Nassar’s behavior, but failed to act for more than a year.

“I’m sorry for what you and your families have been through,” Wray told the Senate judiciary committee. “I’m sorry that so many different people let you down, over and over again. And I’m especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in in 2015 and failed.”

Wray said the allegations happened before he was director, but is doing everything in his power to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

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(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

INTERLEAGUE
Atlanta 3, Oakland 2
Detroit 5, Pittsburgh 3
Baltimore 9, Chi Cubs 3
Tampa Bay 4, St. Louis 2
Chi White Sox 4, LA Dodgers 0

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Cleveland 6, Texas 3
Texas 6, Cleveland 3
Toronto 7, Kansas City 0
Houston 4, Seattle 1
N.Y. Yankees 10, Minnesota 4
Boston 6, L.A. Angels 5

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Miami 12, Washington 2
Cincinnati 14, Arizona 8
Philadelphia 3, Milwaukee 2
San Diego 7, NY Mets 0
Colorado 5, San Francisco 3

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Tampa Bay 4, NY Rangers 1 (Series tied 2-2)

WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
New York 88, Minnesota 69
Seattle 72, Atlanta 60

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(BOSTON) — Authorities from Homeland Security Investigations and the Boston Police Department are warning that there could be an uptick in counterfeit NBA goods and tickets being sold, as the series shifts to Boston for Game 3 on Wednesday.

“Criminals have been known to exploit fan enthusiasm during major sporting events by selling counterfeit jerseys, hats and other sports related merchandise to unsuspecting consumers,” said Jim Mancuso, HSI Intellectual Property Rights Center Director. “Fans who spend their hard-earned money can rest assured the IPR Center and its partners are working around the clock to ensure they are getting only genuine, high-quality officially licensed NBA merchandise.”

HSI is the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

The effort isn’t new. During major events such as the Super Bowl and the NCAA Men’s Final Four, HSI is out on the streets collecting counterfeit goods. In February, officials announced they seized nearly $100 million worth of counterfeit sports goods in the past year.

In a separate news release, Boston Police urges fans to be cautious in purchasing NBA finals tickets.

“The BPD encourages fans to only buy tickets from authorized ticket agencies,” the Department says. “Fans who purchase tickets from a secondary source are taking a chance and do so at the buyer’s own risk.”

Homeland Security Investigations works in concert with the NBA and other sports leagues to crack down on counterfeits.

“In San Francisco, Boston and beyond, counterfeiters take advantage of consumers who want genuine, quality NBA merchandise and tickets — and take away from their overall NBA Finals experience,” said Ayala Deutsch, NBA Executive Vice President and Deputy General Counsel.

HSI urges consumers to shop at official NBA licensed stores and look for the NBA hologram which is on every licensed, official product.

The series between the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors is tied and Game 3 takes place Wednesday at the TD Garden in Boston.

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(BATON ROUGE, La.) — Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards didn’t veto or approve the Republican-led Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, by the end of the legislative session Monday. The now-law that bans transgender women from participating in women’s sports.

“Whether it’s intended or not, the effect is to [send] a strong message to at least some of these young people that they shouldn’t be who they think they are, who they believe they are, who they know that they are,” Edwards said in a press conference on Monday. ” I find that very distressing. I do believe that we can be better than that.”

The legislation points to the biological differences between men and women. It claims “strength, speed, and endurance” are generally found in “greater degrees in biological males than biological females.”

The law also claims that hormone therapy after puberty is not effective until over a year after treatment begins — but does not reference puberty blockers, which some trans youth take to temporarily halt puberty.

There is no conclusive evidence as to whether transgender women have an unfair advantage, some experts say.

A recent study found that hormone therapy is most effective at quelling physical advantages after two years, but the study had several limitations. For example, it didn’t take into account differences in exercise habits.

Several major athletic organizations, including NCAA, the Olympics and the governing bodies for U.S. national sports leagues, allow transgender women to compete against cisgender women.

LGBTQ advocates say such bans are aiming to solve a problem that does not exist, and will only serve to harm trans children.

“SB 44 is a direct attack on transgender youth that are trying their best to just be kids, and fit in with and play alongside their peers,” the Human Right Campaign said in a statement when the legislation first passed the legislature.

It continued: “Trans kids, like all kids across the country, have said themselves that they play sports for the same reasons all kids do: to be part of a team, to learn discipline, and above all, to have fun with their friends.”

There have been more than 300 bills targeting the LGBTQ community across the country so far this year.

Louisiana joins Indiana, Oklahoma, Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia in banning transgender girls from sports that align with their gender identity.

However, several governors have vetoed similar bills, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb.

The two cited a lack of evidence that trans students were unfairly dominating and warned about the mental health implications of banning trans youth from recreational sports.

The two both had their vetoes overturned.

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(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Seattle 7, Houston 4
Boston 1, LA Angels 0
Toronto 8, Kansas City 0
Texas at Cleveland (Postponed)

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Cincinnati 7, Arizona 0
NY Mets 11, San Diego 5

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Colorado 6, Edmonton 5 (OT) (Colorado wins 4-0)

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(SAN FRANCISCO) — The Golden State Warriors bounced back Sunday night in Game 2 of the NBA Finals to even up the series against the Boston Celtics.

Warriors point guard Stephen Curry led the team with 29 points to help achieve the 107-88 win.

Both teams will next square off on Wednesday. Tip off begins in Boston at 9 p.m ET.

Watch highlights from Game 2 below:

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(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

INTERLEAGUE
Philadelphia 9, LA Angels 7

AMERICAN LEAGUE
NY Yankees 5, Detroit 4
Cleveland 3, Baltimore 2
Minnesota 8, Toronto 6
Chi White Sox 6, Tampa Bay 5
Houston 7, Kansas City 4
Seattle 6, Texas 5
Boston 5, Oakland 2

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Pittsburgh 3, Arizona 0
San Francisco 5, Miami 1
Washington 5, Cincinnati 4
San Diego 6, Milwaukee 4
Atlanta 8, Colorado 7
NY Mets 5, L.A. Dodgers 4
St. Louis 5, Chi Cubs 3

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Golden State 107, Boston 88 (Series tied 1-1)

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Tampa Bay 3, NY Rangers 2 (NY leads 2-1)

WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Minnesota 84, New York 77
Atlanta 75, Indiana 66
Chi 91, Washington 82
Phoenix 81, Los Angeles 74
Las Vegas 84, Dallas 78
Connecticut 93, Seattle 86

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(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Friday’s sports events: 

 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

 INTERLEAGUE
 Final  Philadelphia  10  L.A. Angels   0

 AMERICAN LEAGUE
 Final  N.Y. Yankees  13  Detroit             0
 Final  Cleveland      6  Baltimore           3
 Final  Minnesota      9  Toronto             3
 Final  Tampa Bay      6  Chicago White Sox   3
 Final  Seattle        4  Texas               3
 Final  Houston       10  Kansas City         3
 Final  Boston         7  Oakland             2
  
 NATIONAL LEAGUE
 Final  St. Louis      14  Chicago Cubs   5
 Final  Washington      8  Cincinnati     5
 Final  San Francisco  15  Miami          6
 Final  Arizona         8  Pittsburgh     6
 Final  San Diego       7  Milwaukee      0
 Final  Atlanta         3  Colorado       1
 Final  L.A. Dodgers    6  N.Y. Mets      1
   
 NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
 Final  N-Y Rangers   3  Tampa Bay   2

 WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
 Final  New York     74  Washington  70
 Final  Dallas       68  Seattle     51
 Final  Connecticut  92  Phoenix     88
 Final  Chicago      73  Atlanta     65

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(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Detroit 3, Minnesota 2
NY Yankees 6, LA Angels 1
NY Yankees 2, LA Angels 1
Tampa Bay 3, Texas 1
Toronto 8, Chi White Sox 3
Seattle 7, Baltimore 6

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Miami 3, San Francisco 0
Cincinnati 8 Washington 1
Milwaukee 5, San Diego 4
Chi Cubs 7, St. Louis 5
Atlanta 13, Colorado 6
LA Dodgers 2 NY Mets 0

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Boston 120, Golden State 108 (Boston leads 1-0)

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Colorado 4, Edmonton 0 (Colorado leads 2-0)

WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Connecticut 97, Las Vegas 90

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