MANHATTAN, N.Y. (WPIX) — Two men are in custody in connection to numerous burglaries “targeting wealthier neighborhoods,” including the home of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, sources tell Nexstar’s WPIX.
Dimitriy Nezhinskiy, 43, of North Bergen, New Jersey, and Juan Villar, 48, of Queens, are accused of receiving luxury items from burglaries across multiple states and running a fencing operation in Manhattan, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The two defendants were arrested on Tuesday.
Goods such as jewelry, watches, handbags, and luxury items were stolen by burglary crews based out of South America and transported to New York for sale, according to court documents. Nezhinskiy and Villar allegedly perpetuated the sale of these stolen items.
Phone records and video surveillance connect Nezhinskiy to members of a crew suspected of burglarizing the home of a high-profile athlete in Ohio on Dec. 9, 2024. That’s the same day Burrow’s home in Cincinnati was reportedly broken into while he and the Bengals were playing in Dallas.
Court documents do not explicitly identify Burrow as a victim of the thefts, but authorities referenced previous news coverage of four men being arrested in connection to the burglary.
Prosecutors say that between October 2022 and January 2024, an undercover detective conducted seven controlled sales of high-end handbags and luxury accessories to the defendants at their pawn shop in New York City’s Diamond District, according to court documents. The detective told the defendants the goods were stolen and received cash in exchange.
On Feb. 4, law enforcement executed raids at the pawn shop, resulting in the seizure of large quantities of suspected stolen property. Raids were conducted at storage units in New Jersey owned by Nezhinskiy, where more suspected stolen property was recovered. This included luxury clothing, high-end handbags, sports memorabilia, and artwork. Additionally, power tools commonly used in burglaries and for opening safes were discovered.
A four-count indictment charged Nezhinskiy — a Georgian national who cannot be returned to his home country — and Villar with one count of conspiracy to receive stolen property and three counts of receipt of stolen property. Both defendants have extensive criminal histories and have been convicted of various crimes since 2001, according to the indictment.
Last month, four men from Chile were indicted for a string of burglaries at multimillion-dollar homes, the Ohio attorney general announced. He did not, however, say whether professional athletes were targeted, the Associated Press reported at the time.
The four men had been arrested in early January. Authorities said they were found in an SUV with an LSU shirt — Burrow played for the school in college — and a Cincinnati Bengals hat, both believed to have been stolen from a Cincinnati-area home on December 9.
Court documents regarding those men, as well as Nezhinskiy and Villar, do not state whether they are also connected to burglaries at the homes of prominent NFL, NHL and NBA players.
Star NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes, of Kansas City, along with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, have been victims, as have NBA players Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers (then a member of the Dallas Mavericks), Bobby Portis of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Mike Conley Jr. of Minnesota.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
