Former Pitt football star Mark May is getting his Super Bowl rings back.
The Panthers Hall of Fame offensive lineman won the rings with the Washington Redskins during his NFL playing days.
According to ABC 15 in Arizona, May was wearing the rings at a charity event in Scottsdale, Ariz.
May discovered the rings were missing and contacted the hotel. The rings were found in a hotel safe and turned over to employee Marcel Behnert, who police say tried to sell them.
Luckily for May, the right people were approached to buy them.
A sports memorabilia collector known as Diamond Don reached out to May, an ESPN analyst. Diamond Don works with Gold & Silver Pawn in Las Vegas, the store seen on History Channel’s “Pawn Stars.”
Behnert allegedly asked for $12,000 for both rings . That set off the alarm bells to those who worked at the store.
“Given what he was looking for, I thought that doesn’t have a good sign to it,” the store’s general manager Andy Zimmerman told the TV station. “So I told my pawn broker, go back out there and counter, and see what he does. We countered at a lower price, and he accepted it, which led me to believe even further that there was a problem.”
ABC reports that Zimmerman contacted authorities in both Arizona and Vegas. Essentially, they then set up a sting to catch Behnert.
They worked with Gold & Silver Pawn to set up a time for the suspect to return to the pawn shop the next day on the pretense of selling the rings. That’s when Behnert was arrested.
May’s watches were also found in a safe in Behnert’s home.
May plans to reclaim the rings next week.
