Three people have been charged with selling more than 1,100 items of forged Jason Kelce memorabilia, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office.
Robert Capone, 51, of Philadelphia; LeeAnn Branco, 43, of Bristol, R.I.; and Joseph Parenti, 39, of Cranston, R.I., were charged with forgery, theft and deceptive business practices among 60 felony counts and other charges relating to selling approximately $200,000 in forged Kelce memorabilia.
Kelce, 37, played 13 seasons with the Eagles before retiring after the 2023 campaign and is now an NFL analyst for ESPN.
The items, which were supposedly signed by Kelce on June 11-12 at the Valley Forge Casino H๏τel, were put up for sale by Overtime Promotion, owned by Capone, and Diamond Legends, owned by Parenti, according to a statement by the DA’s office.
They were allegedly “verified” by Branco, who works for Beckett Authentications Services, and the 1,138 signed items included jerseys, footballs, helmets, hats and pH๏τos.
Montgomery County police were tipped off to the forgeries by TCH Humphreys LLC.
The group was the one contracted to conduct Kelce’s official signings at a private event on June 11-12 at Valley Forge Casino.
The investigations into the alleged forgeries found that Capone, Parenti and Branco conspired to use Branco’s Beckett Authentication Services to create the fake autographed merchandise to then sell as authentic, according to the DA’s office.
The trio did attend the event at the Valley Forge casino and allegedly received some authentic memorabilia while keeping other memorabilia off-site for later forgeries and sale, according to the investigation.
The sale of the forged items, without Kelce’s did not consent, did financial harm to the former Eages star of approximately $200,000.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2025.
Kelce, a six-time All-Pro and Super Bowl champion has become a media darling since his retirement.
He is currently part of ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown,” co-hosts the “New Heights” podcast with brother and Chiefs тιԍнт end Travis, and hosts “They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce” on ESPN.
Jason and his wife, Kylie, are expecting their fourth daughter.
