Tom Brady's jersey from the New England Patriots' Super Bowl LI victory has been recovered after being stolen from the locker room. The NFL announced on Monday that the jersey, valued at $500,000, was found in the possession of a credentialed member of the international media in Mexico City.
Mexican authorities, with assistance from the FBI and Houston police, traced the jersey to the home of Mauricio Ortega, a former executive at the newspaper chain Organización Editorial Mexicana (OEM). Ortega resigned on 14 March for personal reasons, according to a statement from Editora La Prensa, a division of OEM. The company offered a public apology and said it was unaware of any investigation.
The NFL also recovered Brady's jersey from Super Bowl XLIX, where the Patriots defeated the Seattle Seahawks in 2015. Both jerseys were found together, and the investigation is ongoing. Brady had reported the theft shortly after the Patriots' comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons in February.
The incident drew international attention to Mexico, where the NFL is growing in popularity. Despite Brady's friendship with US President Donald Trump, his popularity in Mexico remains high. The Patriots are scheduled to play a regular-season game in Mexico City later this year.
