(CINCINNATI) — Four men charged with burglarizing the Ohio home of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow last year posed for pictures with some of the $300,000 worth of designer luggage, glasses, wrist watches and jewelry stolen from the residence, according to a newly unsealed federal criminal complaint.
An image taken from the cellphone of one of the suspects shows multiple items — including wristwatches, jewelry and $10,000 in cash — stolen from Burrow’s home in Anderson Township in December 2024, according to the complaint.
The photos were taken on Dec. 10, 2024, a day after Burrow’s home in Anderson Township was broken into, according to the complaint.
An analysis of the suspect’s phone “revealed multiple photographs that had been taken of items believed to be stolen from J.B.’s residence,” according to the complaint.
Many of these photographs were deleted during a Jan. 10 traffic stop involving the suspects, according to the federal complaint.
Authorities had tracked a cellphone number and license plate believed to be tied to the burglary to a hotel in Fairborn, Ohio, and surveilled the rented vehicle before pulling it over for a traffic violation, according to the complaint.
Two Husky automatic center punch tools — which authorities said are used to break glass and enter houses — along with an old LSU shirt and Bengals hat believed to have been stolen from Burrow’s home were also found in the vehicle, according to the complaint.
The four Chilean nationals showed fake identification but were later confirmed to be Alexander Chavez, Bastian Morales, Jordan Sanchez and Sergio Cabello, according to the complaint.
They were arrested and have been charged with interstate transport of stolen goods and falsification of records in a federal investigation.
Court records do not list any attorney information for the suspects.
Burrow was not home at the time of the burglary, which happened while he was playing in a Monday Night Football game in Dallas.
Burrow’s friend, Olivia Ponton, arrived at the residence around 8 p.m. “and noticed that the living room and master bedroom looked unusually messy. She then observed that a master bedroom window on the back side of the residence had been broken,” the complaint said.
Burrow had security personnel at the home but the men avoided them by entering through the woods, according to the complaint.
The FBI used surveillance images, cellphone tracking and other technology to identify the four Chilean nationals who were either in the country illegally or had overstayed their permissions, the complaint said.
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(LOS ANGELES) — Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for MLB star Shohei Ohtani, was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison on Thursday on charges related to stealing nearly $17 million from the Dodgers player. The sentence was handed down nearly a year after the gambling controversy first surfaced.
Mizuhara, 40, admitted to fraudulently transferring the money from Ohtani’s account for more than two years to pay his gambling debts, including impersonating the athlete on two dozen occasions in calls to the bank, according to a plea agreement in the case.
The 57-month sentence was awarded for one count of bank fraud. On a second count, for subscribing to a false tax return, he was given 36 months — to be served concurrently with the 57 months.
Prosecutors called the scheme “deep” and “extensive” fraud and that Ohtani was “harmed substantially” by Mizuhara’s actions.
Mizuhara is scheduled to surrender on March 24.
He was additionally sentenced to three years supervised release and ordered to pay more than $18 million in restitution — including nearly $17 million to Ohtani, more than $1 million to the IRS and court fines.
Mizuhara, a permanent resident of the U.S., also faces a risk of deportation back to his native Japan upon completion of the federal sentence, prosecutors said.
Joseph McNally, the acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said outside the courthouse following the hearing that the sentence reflects the “seriousness of the offense and sends a strong message.”
He also emphasized the harm done to Ohtani, who submitted a victim impact statement to the court that has been sealed.
“In this case, he had money stolen from him. He was taken advantage of. He was preyed on by Mr. Mizuhara,” McNally said. “Mr. Mizuhara lied, he cheated and he stole. His behavior was shameless.”
Mizuhara asks judge for mercy
In a three-page letter to Judge John Holcomb filed ahead of Thursday afternoon’s hearing in Santa Ana, California, Mizuhara asked for a “merciful and not punitive” sentence and set out to explain why he committed the fraud.
He described mounting financial stresses that he said led him to use an online sports betting website run by Mathew Bowyer starting in 2021. He said that due to his “ignorance to the gambling industry,” he did not realize it was an illegal gambling business until early 2024.
“Being desperate for money at the time, I stupidly thought this might be an opportunity to help myself out financially and started to use his website for sports betting. And before I knew it, the results were the complete opposite,” Mizuhara wrote. “My gambling debt had grown so much that I could not find any way to pay it but to use Shohei’s money … I felt terribly guilty about putting my hands on his money but this was the only solution I could think of at the time.”
Mizuhara also said that the offseason was “physically and mentally” harder while detailing some of his errands for Ohtani, such as driving him to trainings, taking his dog to the vet and fixing his bicycle — saying he had “almost no true days off.”
“I felt like I was getting severely underpaid but I was afraid to speak up for myself as I was on a one year contract every year and I didn’t want to upset them and end up getting fired,” he wrote.
Mizuhara said he hopes to use his experience to help others dealing with gambling problems. He also outlined the impact a prison sentence would have on his wife.
“I understand that I have made a decision that will impact my entire life and I am not making excuses for what I have done. I am not trying to justify my actions in any way. I am asking that you will look at me as a man and believe change can happen,” he said. “I don’t believe an apology will fix my wrong. I am prepared [to] accept my consequences. I am asking for a little mercy from the court concerning my sentence you will hand down.”
He lastly said he is “truly sorry” for violating Ohtani’s trust in him.
Defense, government make case for sentence
Mizuhara pleaded guilty last year to one count of bank fraud, which carries a maximum of 30 years in prison, and one count of subscribing to a false tax return, which carries up to three years in prison. A sentence of 48 months was recommended by the probation officer.
Mizuhara’s attorney asked the judge to impose an 18-month sentence, arguing in a memorandum that the interpreter was devoted to his work for Ohtani but suffers from a “longstanding gambling addiction, which was uniquely exacerbated by his grueling work and exposure to high-stakes bookmakers in the world of professional athletes.”
Mizuhara “made a terrible mistake as a result of his serious gambling addiction, an anomaly in an otherwise law-abiding life in which he was dedicated to his career as an interpreter for Mr. Ohtani and other baseball players,” his attorney, Michael Freedman, wrote.
The defense attorney also said Mizuhara’s reputation here and in Japan has been “irretrievably stained” and that he “will continue to suffer as a result of harm to his reputation and career in the global press and through certain deportation.”
Prosecutors, meanwhile, asked the court to impose a prison sentence of 57 months while disputing what they called “unsupported claims” by the defense on the extent of Mizuhara’s gambling problem and the financial problems he had said led him to Bowyer’s illegal sports betting business.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Mitchell wrote in a response to the defense’s sentencing filings that the government could find no proof of a long-standing gambling addiction, and that Mizuhara did not have “such a ‘tremendous debt’ that it forced him to steal millions of dollars from Mr. Ohtani, as he claims.”
Mitchell also questioned whether Mizuhara is “truly remorseful or whether they are just sorry they were caught” and highlighted portions of Mizuhara’s letter to the judge, in which he detailed his offseason duties for Ohtani.
“The government does not question defendant’s work ethic, but only his characterization of the work and his true intention,” Mitchell wrote. “Instead of using this opportunity to apologize and show true remorse, he has used it, in a public filing, to complain about his work and Mr. Ohtani.”
In addition to the prison sentence, the government asked for three years of supervised release, restitution of $16,975,010 to Ohtani and $1,149,400 to the IRS.
Sentencing comes nearly year after firing Mizuhara worked with the Angels as Ohtani’s interpreter and then in the same capacity with the Dodgers, until the team fired him nearly a year ago, in March 2024, after the gambling controversy surfaced.
Ohtani addressed the scandal at the time during a press briefing, saying in a prepared statement through an interpreter, “I am very saddened and shocked that someone who I trusted has done this.”
Mizuhara pleaded guilty to the federal charges in June 2024.
According to the plea agreement, from November 2021 to March 2024, Mizuhara transferred nearly $17 million from the account to associates of the bookmaker in more than 40 wires without Ohtani’s permission.
Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers prior to last year, the richest deal in sports history.
Bowyer pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges for running an illegal gambling business that took unlawful sports bets from hundreds of customers, including Mizuhara, the Department of Justice said. He is scheduled to be sentenced in April.
Mizuhara also admitted in the plea agreement to falsely claiming that his total taxable income for 2022 was $136,865 when, in fact, he failed to report an additional $4.1 million in income.
“The source of the unreported income was from his scheme to defraud the bank,” the DOJ said, noting that he owes approximately $1,149,400 in additional taxes for the tax year 2022, plus additional interest and penalties.
His sentencing has been postponed several times after the defense asked for more time to prepare and for a forensic psychologist to complete a report about Mizuhara’s gambling.
ABC News’ Vanessa Navarrete contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Tiger Woods is mourning the death of his mother, Kultida Woods, and remembering her as “a force of nature all her own.”
The pro golfer took to social media on Tuesday to announce she had died earlier in the day and shared a heartfelt tribute in her honor.
“It is with heartfelt sadness that I want to share that my dear mother, Kultida Woods, passed away early this morning,” he began.
“My Mom was a force of nature all her own, her spirit was simply undeniable. She was quick with the needle and a laugh.”
“She was my biggest fan, greatest supporter, without her none of my personal achievements would have been possible,” he continued. “She was loved by so many, but especially by her two grandchildren, Sam and Charlie. Thank you all for your support, prayers and privacy at this difficult time for me and my family. Love you Mom.”
Kultida Woods was present when her son — her only child with husband Earl Woods, who died in 2006 — was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in March 2022 alongside her grandchildren.
Tiger Woods shares his two children, daughter Sam Woods and son Charlie Woods, with his ex-wife Elin Nordegren.
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