A Seattle man was charged Friday with a string of burglaries that targeted prominent current and former football and baseball players.
Earl Enderson 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 allege Riley was the ringleader in a series of burglaries that began in February and involved stealing more than $6,000 in Louis Vuitton bags from Seattle Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo’s home. He also allegedly stole more than $194,000 in high-end purses and jewelry from the home of the Mariners’ 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.
The arrest marks the latest example of well-known professional athletes being targeted in home thefts 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.
In December, the FBI warned sports leagues about crime organizations targeting professional athletes. The advisory said that at least nine professional athletes at the time had been targeted in a rash of forced entries into their homes between September and November, sources told CBS News at the time. At the same time, the NFL and NBA issued security alerts after the homes of such star athletes as Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Luka Doncic were burglarized.
Riley is being held in the King County Jail on $1 million bail. It was not immediately clear whether he had a lawyer. The King County Department of Public Defense did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press.
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 on 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.
Caitlin O’Kane and
Robert Legare
contributed to this report.
