Mexican newspaper La Prensa has publicly apologized for the alleged theft of Tom Brady‘s Super Bowl LI jersey by the publication’s former director Martin Mauricio Ortega Camberos.
USA Today Sports translated the paper’s lengthy seven-point statement, which we’ve pasted towards the bottom of this post.
Ortega actually resigned from his executive position at the tabloid one week ago today, citing “personal reasons,” per the paper’s statement. He’s since stated that close family members have been dealing with health issues.
The newspaper said it “strongly rejects” Ortega’s purported behavior, if proven true. Calling his alleged heist “unfortunate and reproachable,” management at La Prensa denied any previous knowledge of Ortega’s apparent involvement.
“Regardless of the truth, these alleged acts committed personally by Martin Mauricio Ortega Camberos could have happened while he still held the position of director of the newspaper La Prensa,” their statement winded down. “Editora La Prensa, S.A. de C.V. offers a public apology to our readers and the Mexican people for these regrettable acts.”
Ortega is also being accused of stealing Brady’s Super Bowl XLIX game-worn jersey, and possibly even Von Miller’s missing Denver Broncos helmet from Super Bowl 50. The jerseys have been valued at about $500,000 apiece.
Here’s the whole Le Prensa memo in English, thanks to the national paper:
- On March 14, 2017, at approximately 8:30 p.m., Mr. Martin Mauricio Ortega Camberos arrived at the corporate offices to present his resignation as the Director of the Newspaper La Prensa, citing personal reasons.
- That resignation was accepted, since on multiple occasions, Mr. Martin Mauricio Ortega Camberos expressed he was undergoing difficulties, related to the health of family members close to him.
- With complete surprise and disappointment, today we have received the news of the alleged behavior by Martin Mauricio Ortega Camberos on February 5, 2017, inside NRG Stadium in Houston Texas, where Super Bowl LI took place.
- Editora La Prensa S.A. de C.V., if these allegations are true, strongly rejects the behavior of Martin Mauricio Ortega Camberos, who took advantage of the position he held, used the newspaper La Prensa to obtain media credentials to access the field of play, press conferences and probably other areas of NRG Stadium.
- It is worth noting that none of the managers of Editora La Prensa, S.A. de C.V., nor of the Organizacion Editorial Mexicana, had any knowledge of the unfortunate and reproachable acts that Martin Mauricio Ortega Camberos allegedly committed on February 5, 2017, since no local or federal authorities sought information from the legal department of this publishing house in relation to Martin Mauricio Ortega Camberos, much less over his role during Super Bowl LI that took place in Houston; for that reason, this is why we became aware of the alleged actions by Martin Mauricio Ortega Camberos at this moment.
- Editora La Prensa, S.A. de C.V. will seek information from the corresponding authorities in relation to the acts that were revealed today, so that if it is appropriate, we can initiate a legal response to help the authorities in the clarification of these regrettable actions that are being investigated, which will become public knowledge to the Mexican people, and in particular our readers.
- Regardless of the truth, these alleged acts committed personally by Martin Mauricio Ortega Camberos could have happened while he still held the position of director of the newspaper La Prensa; Editora La Prensa, S.A. de C.V. offers a public apology to our readers and the Mexican people for these regrettable acts.
“I am happy my jersey from SB 49 and SB 51 have been recovered, and I want to thank all of the law enforcement agencies involved,” Brady said in a statement. “I know they worked hard on this case — and it is very much appreciated. Hopefully when I get the jerseys back I can make something very positive come from this experience.”
Weirdly enough, Brady took a locker room photo with Ortega in 2005, per TMZ. Here’s the evidence:
Tom Brady was face-to-face w/ the alleged jersey thief Mauricio Ortega in '05 — yrs before SB 51. Here's the photo. https://t.co/RhkMTbF92x pic.twitter.com/E3dTXYSsIN
— michael j. babcock (@mikejbabcock) March 20, 2017