Team Loses $22K in Staples Center Theft

Los Angeles (myFOXla.com) - Somebody entered a locker room at Staples Center and stole more than $22,000 in cash and property from members of an Israeli basketball team that played the Los Angeles Clippers in an exhibition game this week, police said today.

"An unknown suspect was able to gain entry to the locker room of the Israeli team," said Lt. Albert Gavin of the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Station. "It was during halftime that they noticed the property missing. And then they lost the game."

The Clippers defeated Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, 108-96, Tuesday. Maccabi, which has won 47 Israeli national championships, also lost to the New York Knicks, 106-91, Sunday at Madison Square Garden.

The LAPD didn't learn of the theft until after the game was over, Gavin said.

"The suspect took in excess of $15,000 in U.S. currency and in excess of $7,000 worth of watches and other jewelry," Gavin said. "Ten players were identified as victims. I was working that night, and we did not find out until the conclusion of the game. The players were already on the bus.

"It was a problem," Gavin said. "We couldn't get a statement from each of the victims. If I was missing that kind of money, I'd have stuck around."

Police ended up getting statements from a representative of the Israeli team and from Staples Center security.

Central Station police detectives hope to identify the suspect with security video they have received from Staples Center, Gavin said.

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv bills itself as "the first and most successful basketball club in Israel." Team executives couldn't immediately be reached to comment on the locker room theft.

The lead article on Maccabi Tel Aviv's Web site today is headlined "Maccabi's American Journey Ends with a Loss to the Clippers 108-96." The theft is not mentioned.

Tuesday's exhibition with the Clippers was played to benefit Migdal Ohr, a facility in northern Israel that shelters nearly 7,000 orphaned, impoverished, underprivileged and new-immigrant children and bills itself as the world's biggest orphanage.

Staples Center, owned and operated by Anschutz Entertainment Group, is the home of four professional sports franchises -- the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks, and the NHL's Los Angeles Kings.