A New Jersey man who posed as a former Patriots player in a fraudulent effort to obtain Super Bowl rings pleaded guilty to five charges Monday, the Associated Press reports. To establish legitimacy, the fraudster said he was giving the rings to members of Tom Brady’s family.
Scott V. Spina Jr., 24, will plead guilty to five felony charges of wire fraud, mail fraud and aggravated identity theft.
In 2017, Spina purchased a Patriots’ 2016 Super Bowl ring from a player who had left the team. Spina ripped off the player, known only as T.J., with at least one bad check. He ordered three rings with “Brady” engraved on them.
Later that year, Spina sold the rings at an auction house for $100,000. One ring sold for $337,000 at an auction in 2018.
There was another bizarre incident involving Patriots memorabilia following their historic comeback win over the Falcons in Super Bowl LI. Brady’s jersey was stolen from the locker room, only to be found in the possession of a member of the International media.
The jersey had been assigned a value of $500,000. No wonder why people try to steal this stuff.
