Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin reportedly had his house burglarized during a game earlier this season, adding to a concerning trend in which professional athletes experience break-in attempts during events.
Although the exact date of the burglary has not been announced, a source confirmed to The Dallas Morning News that the incident took place before Seguin suffered an injury on December 4.
Seguin has not spoken out about the event. Still, the incident would seemingly match a trend in which professional athletes have experienced burglaries during games that keep them away from home for a significant amount of time.
The reported burglary of Seguin’s home came before Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic experienced a burglary that resulted in roughly $30,000 worth of items being stolen, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Similarly, the fiancé of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott experienced a burglary in which roughly $400,000 worth of luxury goods were stolen last week, according to WFAA.
While this incident has not been linked to burglaries related to Doncic and Seguin, one security expert said it has become increasingly common for the family of athletes to experience robberies and burglaries as well.
“They will often follow [athlete’s] family members from stores, from the supermarket, from the mall, follow [the athletes] from the games, follow [them] to and from your work,” said Doug Deaton, per WFAA.
Incidents such as these have become common enough for the NFL to warn players about a suspected South American crime syndicate that is committing the burglaries while players are away from their homes, as reported by DX.
NFL security released a memo to inform players that the suspects “appear to exploit team schedules to target athletes’ homes on game days,” writing that players should be mindful of social media and other ways that people could learn their schedules.
“It’s a transnational crime ring, and over the last three weeks, they’ve focused on NBA and NFL players, and it’s all over the country,” said one source close to the situation.
While the initial belief was that these suspects were targeting only NBA and NFL players, the recent reports about the robbery at Seguin’s home indicate that there could be others at risk.