Chiefs player among five in NFL hit by Ohio man’s scams, grand jury charges

A Kansas City Chiefs player and players from four other NFL teams were taken in by an Ohio man’s scams, according to an indictment issued in Kansas City.

Prosecutors did not identify the players whom they said were taken for $24,700 in a couple of fraud schemes by Camario A. Richardson, 38, of Maple Heights, Ohio, which is near Cleveland.

An announcement Thursday of the indictment said Richardson faces one count of mail fraud and four counts of wire fraud.

Richardson allegedly told the Chiefs player that he could get 300 backpacks with Nike’s brand on them for a charitable book bag giveaway event at the start of the 2016 school year. The player paid $6,000 in April of that year, but no backpacks were delivered, according to the indictment.

Richardson similarly took $6,480 from a player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, $6,480 from an Indianapolis Colts player, and $4,320 from a Cincinnati Bengals player, prosecutors said. Richardson failed to deliver any of the backpacks to them.

When Richardson failed to deliver the Nike backpacks, the players purchased other bags to give away at the charitable events, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Richardson also defrauded a San Diego Chargers player, before the team’s move to Los Angeles, out of $1,500 in a scheme involving Nike athletic shoes that he failed to deliver.

An investigation in the case involved the U.S. Secret Service and the Lee’s Summit Police Department.

This story was updated to correct the new location of the Chargers football team.

This story was originally published October 19, 2017 at 4:56 PM with the headline "Chiefs player among five in NFL hit by Ohio man’s scams, grand jury charges."