Seattle man charged with string of burglaries at the homes of NFL and MLB stars

SEATTLE (AP) — A Seattle man was charged Friday with a string of burglaries at the homes of prominent current and former football and baseball players, marking the latest example of well-known athletes being targeted in home thefts.

Earl Henderson Riley IV, 21, was charged with several counts of residential burglary in both occupied and unoccupied homes, along with first-degree robbery, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors say Riley was the ringleader in a series of burglaries that started in February and involved stealing more than $6,000 in Louis Vuitton bags from Seattle Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo’s home and over $194,000 in high end purses and jewelry from the home of the team’s center fielder Julio Rodriguez.

The thefts also involved taking several watches worth more than $100,000 from former Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman’s home and a burglary at the home of Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell, who is from Washington, although nothing was stolen in that instance, according to court documents. Prosecutors say there was also an attempted burglary at baseball Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez’s home.

“All people deserve to feel safe in their homes, and our office will continue to hold people accountable for criminal behavior,” King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion said in a statement.

There have been a slew of burglaries at the homes of well-known professional athletes across the U.S. in recent months. The players have been targeted because of the high-end products believed to be in their homes and sometimes the thefts happen when they are away with their teams for road games.

The FBI has warned sports leagues about crime organizations targeting professional athletes. The NFL and NBA have also issued security alerts after burglaries at the homes of such star athletes as Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.

In a memo obtained by The Associated Press in November, the NFL said the homes of professional athletes across multiple sports have become “increasingly targeted for burglaries by organized and skilled groups.”

Riley is being held in the King County Jail on $1 million bail. It was not immediately clear whether he has a lawyer. The King County Department of Public Defense did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press and a spokesperson from the prosecuting attorney’s office did not know whether Riley had a lawyer.

The charges were the result of a monthslong investigation in which the county’s prosecuting attorney’s office worked with six police jurisdictions.

Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Gary Ernsdorff said in a statement that their work is not over.

“We still want to go and identify everybody who was involved and see if there are additional people that we can have sufficient evidence to charge,” he said.

Riley is expected to enter his initial plea in court during his arraignment June 16.

He has another pending case in King County Superior Court in which he is charged with attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle and unlawful possession of a firearm in the first degree.