When Tom Brady capped off arguably his greatest Super Bowl title with a 28-3 second-half comeback win against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51, the only thing on his mind was his jersey.
As media and family members stormed the field when the New England Patriots won the game in overtime, Brady gave his jersey immediately to one of the equipment managers to have it placed inside his locker. But as he made his way to the locker room to celebrate with his teammates, the jersey was nowhere to be found.
You can see in the video from Inside Edition (around the 38 to 50-second mark) how frustrated Brady looked that his jersey was stolen. He even told Patriots owner Robert Kraft about the problem which he responded by saying: “Well, we have to look for it online.”
Dylan Wagner saves the day.
At the time of the Patriots win, the jersey was dubbed the most expensive piece of memorabilia with a starting price of $500,000. The stolen jersey sparked an international investigation by the FBI since this also wasn't the first time Brady had his jersey stolen. In Super Bowl 49, Tom Brady also reported that his jersey was lost after they defeated the Seattle Seahawks.
This is where Dylan Wagner saves the day. As an avid sports memorabilia collector who sold one of his jerseys to a Mexican reporter named Martin Ortega on eBay a month before the Super Bowl, the two continued conversations after the sale, and both shared photos of the rare collectibles each one had. Among the 30 photos that Ortega shared with Wagner was Brady's Super Bowl 49 jersey, which by the time nobody knew was stolen.
When reports surfaced that a game-worn jersey of Brady was stolen, Wagner informed his friend who was a Boston ATF special agent of who might have it and where they could find him. Thanks to the photos, the police were able to get a search warrant and eventually found both of the jerseys in Ortega's basement.
Outside the two Super Bowl jerseys of Brady, Ortega also stole Von Miller's Super Bowl 50 helmet. For Wagner's help in solving the investigation, the Patriots gave him an autographed football by Brady in April of that same year. However, his rewards didn't stop there. Kraft also gave Wagner an autographed Tom Brady jersey, a pair of Nike Air Force 1 sneakers, and front-row seats to the Patriots first home game the following season.
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