A significant breakthrough, the initial one in several months concerning the 2024 wave of residential thefts targeting prominent sports figures’ homes – among them NFL stars Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Joe Burrow – transpired in a Tennessee federal courtroom Wednesday afternoon. This occurred when one of the culprits confessed to the charge of moving pilfered assets across state lines, as per judicial records.
Alexander Esteban Huaiquil Chavez confessed to the accusation, despite Tennessee judicial records not offering additional particulars concerning the matter. Federal agents lodged an accusation in Florida in February 2025 that identified Huaiquil Chavez as part of a robbery syndicate made up of Chilean citizens who infiltrated the residences of sports professionals across the United States, absconding with currency, adornments, and firearms. They faced accusations of transferring pilfered goods across state borders.
The sole instance mentioned in the Florida complaint connected to Tennessee involved a residential theft originating in December 2024, during which around $1 million worth of adornments, timepieces, and high-end handbags were pilfered from the dwelling of “Professional Athlete 6,” a Memphis Grizzlies player, while the Grizzlies competed against the Golden State Warriors on Dec. 19. ESPN’s Tim MacMahon subsequently verified the athlete as guard Ja Morant.
Huaiquil Chavez is slated for judgment on June 11. Under the terms of the settlement arrangement, both parties consented to a two-year incarceration. Should the tribunal decline the plea, either party retains the option to retract. Prosecutors for the United States suggested Chavez be granted “the greatest allowable mitigation for acknowledging culpability” contingent on his adherence to the settlement arrangement’s provisions. These encompass refraining from perpetrating further offenses, deliberately uttering untruths, or offering “deceitful testimony in any subsequent hearings.”
Attempts to reach Huaiquil Chavez’s legal counsel received no prompt response to ESPN.
A grand jury charged Huaiquil Chavez and three additional individuals in Tennessee last May with a single count of moving pilfered goods across state borders.
Sergio Andres Cabello, Bastian Alejandro Morales, and Jordan Francisco Sanchez were also accused in the Memphis matter, but their current standing in Tennessee remains undefined. The quartet of individuals was apprehended in Ohio on Jan. 10, 2025, following a vehicular interception while operating a dark 2021 Chevrolet Trailblazer bearing Florida license plates. Upon apprehension, the accusation stated, law enforcement discovered counterfeit identification and “implements for breaking and entering.”
Federal police utilized information from mobile phone antennae and vehicle hire records to trace the suspected culprits. Authorities additionally unearthed images on an iCloud profile depicting the suspected culprits alongside pilfered timepieces.
Cabello, Morales, and Sanchez are also accused of breaking into Burrow’s residence in Ohio on Dec. 9, 2024, during Burrow’s presence in Texas for a Monday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys. The Florida accusation referred to Burrow as “Professional Athlete 5.”
Correspondence regarding evidence, submitted in October 2025 to Huaiquil Chavez’s lawyer by the Department of Justice, connected him to the Burrow incident, asserting that “the prosecution has furnished proof of additional actions by Mr. Chavez pertinent to the illicit activity in Ohio.”
Within a sworn statement from February 2025 in Ohio accusing Cabello, Morales, and Sanchez, officials claimed Huaiquil Chavez “confessed to acquiring a Husky glass-breaking device from Home Depot yet declined to offer a rationale for its acquisition.”
The magistrate presiding over the Cabello, Morales, and Sanchez matters has granted numerous postponements, including one on Tuesday, “to advance discussions regarding a settlement,” as indicated by federal judicial records. The subsequent progress meeting for those matters is scheduled for May 5.
The Florida accusation detailed residential break-ins at the dwellings of Mahomes and Kelce (identified as Professional Athletes 2 and 3), Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis (Professional Athlete 4), and an undisclosed Tampa Bay Buccaneers gridiron athlete (Professional Athlete 1).
The perpetrators employed elaborate tactics to plunder the residences. The federal accusation delineated their deployment of temporary mobile devices, their awareness of athletes’ potential absence from home based on publicly announced game timetables, and their ingress from “forested or shadowed” locales. The accusation asserted the syndicate would subsequently shatter a pane or leverage a pry bar to force open an entryway prior to gaining access to the dwelling.
Portis Jr. shared footage of his Wisconsin dwelling being pilfered by culprits clad in hoods and facial coverings while donned in hazmat-esque protective gear. Only a sound akin to an electric implement and brief Spanish utterances were discernible in the footage.
The series of residential thefts prompted the FBI to caution professional athletic bodies regarding the infiltrations, asserting that a minimum of nine sports professionals had their residences plundered. The NFL, NBA, and NHL subsequently dispatched advisories to players concerning heightened dangers and instruction on optimal security measures.
Prowlers additionally plundered the residences of other professional sports figures in 2024, including the Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Doncic (who was then affiliated with the Dallas Mavericks), Dallas Stars’ Tyler Seguin, and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Mike Conley Jr., however, their incidents were not enumerated in the Florida accusation.