Third defendant sentenced in Wheeling home invasion, sports cards theft
The last of three men charged with breaking into a Wheeling home in 2014, beating the owner and stealing sports cards valued between $150,000 and $200,000 pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Kristopher Muzzall, 29, of Chicago, pleaded guilty to home invasion with a firearm in the theft of the memorabilia, which included cards featuring stars such as Michael Jordan and Yasiel Puig, according to court records. Muzzall, who received credit for 1,287 days in custody, must complete at least 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.
Prosecutors say Muzzall and Martrell Robinson, 22, also of Chicago, went to the victim's home Aug. 27, 2014, kicked open the front door, beat, choked and tied up the victim, then threatened him at gunpoint to get him to reveal his safe's combination. They opened the safe after several attempts and fled with money and the sports memorabilia in the victim's car, prosecutors said.
Within days, the stolen items began appearing on eBay, prosecutors said. Sports memorabilia store owners in Indiana and Ohio identified co-defendant Steven Chung - who knew the victim and knew about his collection - as the person who sold them the stolen cards.
Chung pleaded guilty in March to home invasion in exchange for an 18-year sentence. Robinson pleaded guilty to home invasion in June 2015 in exchange for a nine-year sentence.