When police executed a search warrant at a house in McKinney, Texas, on Wednesday, they found stacks of jerseys, piles of helmets and a huge stock of autographs, ranging from Michael Jordan to Patrick Mahomes to Mike Trout.
They also discovered an autopen machine and holograms from Beckett and Upper Deck.
Investigators from the Collin County Sheriff's Office said they believe the sports memorabilia is all fake and charged Wendell Gidden-Rodgers and Lisa Skolnick with trademark counterfeiting, a third-degree felony that carries a fine of $30,000 to $150,000.
Police also said they uncovered a “significant amount of evidence supporting the investigation” in the search of the home, according to a release. “This included fictitious certificates of authentication and thousands of sports memorabilia items that were falsely represented as genuine.”
Investigators also said they were tipped off by an investigation into online sales of fraudulent memorabilia.
For years, autograph dealers who had exclusive deals with athletes have been pointing authorities toward Gidden-Rogers, saying he faked thousands of autographs and sold them wholesale, effectively watering down the market on their deals.
In 2013, Scott Mahlum, founder of Mill Creek Sports in Mill Creek, Wash., had an exclusive autograph deal with Russell Wilson, then in his second season with the Seattle Seahawks.
In the fall of that year, Mahlum began to hear rumblings Wilson signatures were flooding the market. He found that strange because he knew exactly how many items Wilson had signed.
When Mahlum dug deeper, he said he found the autographs were on licensed photos from PhotoFile he never had Wilson sign. Mahlum told PhotoFile his predicament, and an executive there pointed to a man who had bought a large quantity: Gidden-Rogers.
Mahlum went to an auction house that was selling many of these photos. He said they told him they had bought the photos from Gidden-Rogers.
For more than seven years, Mahlum continued to provide information to local authorities. He said he was told over and over again, there was not enough for a case.
“I didn’t understand it,” Mahlum said.
Mahlum wasn’t alone.
Jeff Rosenberg, founder of Tri-Star Productions, had the same issue. He paid an exhorbitant fee for the exclusive rights to Tom Brady's signature.
According to Rosenberg, the faked Brady photos were matched to legitimate certification numbers, and the signatures were faked to mimic autographs seen in photos of the real items.
“It’s a long time coming,” Rosenberg said.
“I didn’t think this day would ever come,” Mahlum added.
Sources told cllct the investigation was revived when new information connected forgeries to Gidden-Rogers, who was using a fake name.
The Collin County Sheriff’s Office acknowledged it received help from Grayson County to its north and the FBI in the probe.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.