Four sports memorabilia dealers who pleaded guilty to fraud charges last year over the sale of jerseys they falsely represented as game worn are now serving their time in the federal prison system while another is on court-ordered probation.
Jarrod Oldridge, 39, the owner of JO Sports Co, is one of 2,290 inmates at a facility in Taft,CA. Sentenced to six months, he’s scheduled to be released on August 3. The prison is a contracted correctional institution, operated by a private corporation.
Bernard Gernay, 39, of Howell, NJ, who ran Pro Sports Investments, is at the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Dix, NJ. He’s one of 4,750 inmates there and is scheduled for release on July 4 after also serving a six-month sentence. Fort Dix is a low security federal correctional institution with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp.
Bradley Wells, 32, of St. Petersburg, FL, who operated Authentic Sports, Inc. and Historic Auctions is among 733 inmates at the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola, FL, a minimum security facility, and is scheduled for release July 1 after his six month sentence.
Bradley Horne, 41, of Sunset, SC, who owned Authentic Sports Memorabilia, is one of 2,219 inmates serving time at the FCI in Edgefield, SC, also a minimum security facility, and is slated to be released April 4 after three months of confinement.
According to plea agreements, each case involved the sale, consignment, or auction of jerseys which they represented to buyers were “game used,” when they were not. The dealers admitted they were involved in the purchase of hundreds of jerseys they intended to sell as game worn.
Some of the evidence obtained by FBI agents included fake jerseys and jersey swatches that were sold to trading card companies.
All four men will serve three years probation time following their release from prison.
Steven Jensen, who ran Minnesota-based Vintage Authentics, was given three years probation including four months on home detention last year for his involvement in the sale of bogus jerseys. He was taken away in handcuffs at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago in 2011 after postal inspectors came to his booth during the show. Jensen cooperated in the FBI’s investigation.
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[…] Four dealers began serving prison time earlier this year in connection with a long-running case that involved the sale of jerseys, some of which wound up being sold to trading card companies. It isn’t known if any of those cases are related to the current subpoenas referenced by the Daily News. […]