While the Dolphins were losing a playoff game to the Chiefs, they were also losing some of their property to a thief.
A 30-year-old Kansas City man named John M. Brown stole media equipment, football pads, gloves, shoes and game film valued at $46,376 from a Dolphins team truck in January, according to prosecutors. Dolphins staffers noticed the items were gone shortly after the Dolphins-Chiefs game ended and alerted police.
Officers who looked at security camera footage identified a pickup truck that they believed the thief had been driving and tracked it down, seeing some of the missing items in the pickup’s bed, according to Fox 4 in Kansas City. Four days later, police executed a search warrant on Brown’s home where he appeared to have tried to burn some of the evidence.
“I observed a Miami Dolphins logo and a ruminant of what appeared to be the word ‘video’ that had been partially burned, and additionally matching cold weather gear in the ashes that had not burned,” Kansas City Police detective Craig Leach said in an affidavit, according to the Kansas City Star.
Court documents say Brown was already under surveillance as a potential suspect in a string of thefts before the playoff game. He was also convicted of felony theft and unlawful tampering in 2021.
