Three people, including one man from Philadelphia, are charged with scheming to sell $200,000 in counterfeit Jason Kelce memorabilia touted as being signed by the former Eagles player, the Montgomery County district attorney's office said Wednesday.
Robert Capone, 51, of Philly and owner of Overtime Promotions, was arrested in the investigation. LeAnn Branco, 43, and Joseph Parenti, 39, were also charged. Branco, an employee of Beckett Authentication Services, and Parenti, owner of Diamond Legends, live in Rhode Island and are expected to turn themselves in to Montgomery County Detectives to face charges.
MORE: Eagles fan Savannah Guthrie makes NFC title game bet with Commanders fan Craig Melvin on 'Today'
All three defendants are charged with 60 counts of forgery, theft and deceptive business practices, the D.A.'s office said.
Capone, Branco and Parenti allegedly sold 1,138 piece of memorabilia – jerseys, helmets, mini-helmets, hats, photos and footballs – with forged signatures purported to be Kelce's. Investigators said the bogus items were sold by Capone and Parenti's businesses, and their authenticity allegedly were verified by Branco.
Montgomery County Detectives and Upper Merion Township Police were alerted to the potential forgeries months ago by TCH Humphreys, a sports memorabilia company in Royersford, that in June hosted a private memorabilia signing with Kelce in at the Valley Forge Casino Hotel in King of Prussia.
Capone, Branco and Parenti attended the TCH Humphreys event, and while there, Branco took a photo with Kelce, which police said was an attempt to prove the authenticity of the forged memorabilia.
Also Capone paid for 90 items signed by Kelce, but he allegedly had other memorabilia that he didn't bring to the event, which allegedly would be sold later with fake signatures.
"The certificate of authenticity issued by Branco induced the sale of unauthorized, inauthentic Kelce-autographed memorabilia without (Kelce's) consent, causing financial loss for Kelce, THC Humphreys LLC and others at approximately $200,000," the Montgomery County D.A. office said in the release.
Capone, whose bail was set at $100,000 unsecured, has been released. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5.