A hotel worker from Arizona was arrested after Mark May at the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, which was made famous by the television show Pawn Stars.
May lost his Super Bowl rings while attending a charity event in Scottsdale, Arizona. His rings were found locked in the safe in his hotel room. Marcel Behnert, who is a lead engineer at the hotel, took the safe and was expected to return the items to May.
Instead, Behnert drove to Las Vegas and tried to sell the rings to one of the most recognized pawn shops in the world. The pawnbroker working that day felt something was off about Behnert and went to speak to shop's general manager, Andy Zimmerman.
"I asked the pawnbroker how much the guy was looking for, and he told me the amount, and my first reaction was, 'Each?' And he goes, 'No, for both of them,'"Zimmerman toldABC 15.
He instructed the broker to go back out and make a lower offer for the rings. When Behnert quickly accepted the lower amount, they knew something wasn't right.
Zimmerman contacted their sports memorabilia expert Diamond Don, who reached out to May about the attempt to sell his Super Bowl rings. Zimmerman then contacted the police, and they set up a sting operation to arrest Behnert.
They told him to come back to the store the next day to sell the rings and he was taken into custody by undercover officers. He was charged with theft and trafficking of stolen property.
May was glad that his items were found and he expects to have everything returned to him in the near future. He praised the staff at Gold & Silver Pawn Shop for doing their due diligence and helping bust Behnert.
"I thought they were gone forever. I attribute (their recovery) to probably four or five things. One is luck. I'm lucky to get them back. Two, good police work by the Las Vegas Police Department. Three, the integrity of the Pawn Star guys and Diamond Don," May said. "And four, probably greed and stupidity by the guy who was trying to sell them -- one, to a pawn shop, because nationwide, they're all connected when something like that comes up. And two, to do it on television when they tell you point-blank: If you don't have a receipt or you don't have a proof of ownership, and it's something that's high-priced, we're not interested."
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