Two men, Dimitriy Nezhinskiy and Juan Villar, have been indicted in federal court in New York City for their involvement in buying stolen watches, jewelry, and other expensive items from burglary crews and re-selling them at their pawn shop in Manhattan since 2020. Nezhinskiy has been linked to a theft at the residence of a high-profile athlete in Ohio, which occurred on the same day that Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow's home was broken into.
Although the court documents do not mention Burrow as a victim, prosecutors have cited evidence, including phone records, connecting Nezhinskiy to suspects involved in a theft near Cincinnati on December 9, coinciding with the burglary at Burrow's home while he was away playing in Dallas.
Nezhinskiy, a Georgian national residing in North Bergen, New Jersey, and Villar of Queens, New York City, were arrested and charged with multiple counts of receiving stolen goods. U.S. Attorney John J. Durham stated that the defendants created an illicit market by purchasing stolen luxury items and re-selling them, thereby fueling demand for burglaries by various theft groups across the country.
Following the arrests, a significant amount of suspected stolen property was discovered at the men's business and in storage units in New Jersey belonging to Nezhinskiy. The charges against Nezhinskiy and Villar come after four men from Chile were indicted for a series of burglaries at multimillion-dollar homes in Ohio, although it was not confirmed whether professional athletes were specifically targeted.
The break-in at Burrow's home resulted in property damage, with a shattered bedroom window and ransacked rooms reported by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office. Burrow expressed feeling violated and concerned about his privacy following the incident, emphasizing that more information had been exposed than he wished to share.
