As NFL, NBA and NHL warn teams of burglars targeting athletes, add an ex-Viking to list of victims

The NFL, NBA and NHL are warning teams about a suspected burglary ring that has targeted players’ homes across the country, including Minnesota.

Suspected targets of the nationwide crime operation include the homes of the Timberwolves’ Mike Conley in Medina, former Viking Linval Joseph in Sunfish Lake and Twins co-owner Jim Pohlad in Minneapolis, as well as many others in some of the Twin Cities’ more affluent suburbs.

The NFL issued a security alert Thursday to teams and the players union following recent burglaries involving the homes of Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.

In a memo obtained by the Associated Press, the league says homes of professional athletes across several sports have become “increasingly targeted for burglaries by organized and skilled groups.”

Law enforcement officials noted these groups target the homes when the athletes have games. Players were told to take precautions and implement security measures.

The unoccupied homes of Mahomes and Kelce were broken into within days of each other last month, law enforcement reports show. The break-ins happened just before and the day of Kansas City’s 26-13 home victory over the New Orleans Saints on Oct. 7.

Two current Vikings who live in Sunfish Lake said they have talked with law enforcement and their neighbors about the burglaries and what they can do to protect their houses.

The Vikings said in a statement Friday that the break-ins were addressed with players in a team meeting, and “they were provided multiple resources ... about how they can protect themselves.”

CNN reported that the NBA and the NHL have issued similar alerts to their teams.

Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis revealed on X that his home was broken into Nov. 2 when he was playing in a home game vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he’s offering a $40,000 reward for information leading to any arrests or the return of his possessions.

“I consider Milwaukee my home,” Portis wrote. “While I was at work, my home was burglarized, and many of my prized possessions were stolen.”

In Minnesota, a group of investigators from 12 Twin Cities metro agencies is looking at “60-plus burglaries with similar MO [modus operandi] and suspect information,” a court filing read. “Suspects involved in instances were known to have used cellphone/wifi jammers, GPS trackers, surveillance cameras and rental vehicles.”

West St. Paul Police Chief Brian Sturgeon, whose department also covers neighboring Sunfish Lake, said a section of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) will gather numerous law enforcement agencies to “evaluate all of the evidence and coordinate with other agencies.”

Sturgeon said the BCA’s section, the Fusion Center, is one that every state was federally required to form in response to the 9/11 terror attacks.

“It collaborates efforts to obtain, gather and analyze intelligence in strings of crime, terrorism and narcotics trafficking,” he said.

Timberwolves guard Conley was in Minneapolis for a Vikings home game on Sept. 15 when his Medina home was struck by burglars in much the same way that two other heists in the city were carried out on the same day.

Police Chief Jason Nelson in Medina, a town whose residents are among the victims, said Friday the combined effort of local and state law enforcement along with the FBI has created “some movement in the case. There are some good leads that we are working on [toward] moving in on the group or some part of the group.”

Nelson added it appears that South America “is where [the perpetrators] started coming from.”

Along with Conley, at least two other high-profile sports figures in Minnesota have had their homes burglarized under similar circumstances: Minnesota Twins co-owner Pohlad and former Timberwolves player Troy Hudson.

Pohlad’s $5.5 million home near Bde Maka Ska, encircled by a wall and tall foliage, was burglarized Oct. 9, 2023, according to Minneapolis police. Security company personnel reported seeing the break-in unfolding on live video, police records noted.

Sturgeon said four homes in Sunfish Lake were broken into in similar fashion on Sept. 27, Oct. 26 and Nov. 15, and Joseph’s on Nov. 17.

“They are very similar to all of the burglaries across the metro,” Sturgeon said. “We’re confident there’s been some preliminary surveillance in some way.”

The homes were all unoccupied at the time, the chief said, because “these are professional burglars who do not want to interact with people while they are committing their crimes.”

Real estate developer John Johannson told the Minnesota Star Tribune on Friday that his Sunfish Lake home was the one breached in October by intruders, who emptied his safe of cash and jewelry. Johannson lives next door to Joseph, the former Viking who now plays for the Dallas Cowboys, in the city of 500.

“It’s safe to say that professional law enforcement sees a connection” between his home’s burglary and the others near and far, said Johannson, who played college hockey at Wisconsin followed by a handful of games with the New Jersey Devils in 1983-84.

Johannson, 63, said the intruders broke in through a second-story window of the house where he and one of his four children live, “and cut through my safe. They came with tools. These aren’t the tools you buy at Home Depot. It’s a 400- to 500-pound safe.”

Johannson met with police Friday and collected some items that were stolen. He said that “what they took bugs me. It’s a violation, but it’s not going to change my life.”

SBen Goessling and the Associated Press contributed to this story.