Items stolen from Roquan Smith’s car over the weekend have been recovered and returned to him, except for one: the Bears-issued iPad that the team wiped clean of all playbook information.
Smith, the Bears’ first-round pick last month, reported items missing from his car in Athens, Ga., on Saturday. Officers were able to recover fingerprints off the 2018 BMW X5, Athens-Clarke County (Ga.) Police Department public information officer Epifanio Rodriguez said, and found a match.
A search warrant was issued, Rodriguez said, and the suspect admitted he had the items at his residence and at a family member’s home in Summerville, Ga. Late Tuesday in Summerville, authorities recovered Smith’s Georgia helmet and three Bulldogs jerseys, including his game-worn Rose Bowl and the national title game jerseys.
The suspect will face felony theft charges.
Officers returned the missing items to Smith, who will report to Halas Hall for the start of the Bears’ rookie minicamp Friday. The iPad remains missing.
“I would personally like to thank everyone for their kind words and prayers as Athens-Clarke County Police Department worked very hard to identify the individual responsible for this,” Smith said in a video posted on Twitter. “It was definitely huge.”
