Phony Patriots Player Sentenced to Prison In Super Bowl Ring Ploy

A New Jersey man was sentenced to three years in prison Monday after he admitted to posing as a former Patriots player in an effort to buy and sell Super Bowl rings, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Scott Spina, a 25-year-old from Roseland, N.J., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Carter in Santa Ana, Calif., after pleading guilty in February to five felony counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The Department of Justice also ordered Spina to pay $63,000 in restitution to the former Patriots player, identified as “T.J.” in court records, per Reuters.

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Spina defrauded “T.J.” by purchasing his Super Bowl LI championship ring in 2017. Prosecutors said that Spina used at least one check that bounced to buy the coveted piece of memorabilia and then sold it to a California broker for $63,000.

According to records acquired by Reuters, Spina then posed as the player and ordered three rings from the memorabilia company Jostens. The rings were engraved with the name “Brady” and Spina claimed they were gifts for the quarterback’s children.

Spina sold the three rings in November 2017 to an auction house for $100,000, about three times what he originally paid, per Reuters. One of the rings was later auctioned for $337,219 three months later, according to the Department of Justice

Spina previously served a 35-month term for an unrelated wire fraud charge. He was released in 2020. 

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