Ex-Mets Employee Charged in Theft

The former Mets clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels was charged Wednesday in connection with the theft of nearly $2.3 million worth of team equipment and memorabilia — from hats, bats and balls to a full set of autographed 1986 World Series uniforms.

The charges against Samuels, detailed in a 21-count indictment unsealed in State Supreme Court in Queens, grew out of a gambling investigation last fall that mushroomed and led to a vast hoard of gear and memorabilia in the basement of a friend’s house in Madison, Conn.

Samuels, 53, surrendered Wednesday morning and was arraigned later in the afternoon in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens, Queens, before Justice Fernando Camacho, who released him on $75,000 bail.

The indictment was announced at a news conference by the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.

“In sum, the defendant had a dream job that any Mets fan would die for — and he blew it,” said Brown, whose jurisdiction includes the Mets’ clubhouse and stadium.

Kelly quipped that the charges were “a case of the equipment manager leading the National League in steals,” adding that “by padding invoices, misappropriating player uniforms and stealing autographed memorabilia, Samuels managed to rip off the Mets organization of more than $2 million.”

Samuels was charged with first-degree criminal possession of stolen property, third-degree grand larceny, first-degree falsifying business records, third-degree criminal tax fraud and other crimes. If convicted of the top charge, he faces up to 81/3 years to 25 years in prison.

His lawyer, Michael F. Bachner, said his client denied wrongdoing.

“We believe that that property was rightfully his and that he was authorized to have it and that management and the players were aware of that,” Bachner said. “This was property accumulated over 30 years of loyal service to the Mets, and again, he was authorized to have it.”

The investigation, which was first disclosed in November and resulted in Samuels’s firing a little more than a week later, was initially centered on allegations that he had been gambling with a ring that had some links to organized crime.

But the inquiry, by detectives assigned to the department’s Organized Crime Investigation Division and prosecutors in the Queens district attorney’s office Organized Crime and Rackets Bureau, soon began to focus on the team’s equipment and sports memorabilia.

In addition to the full set of 40 autographed uniforms worn during the 1986 World Series, investigators recovered a full set of autographed uniforms worn during the commemorative 9/11 game played just days after the 2001 attacks.

Samuels was also charged with embezzling $24,955 from the team by submitting inflated expense claims for meals provided to umpires and failing to report or pay taxes on a total of $203,789 that he had received as tips and dues from Mets players and others in 2008 and 2009.

The investigation focused on what investigators said was a pattern of theft over several decades, from autographed bats and balls and other equipment to hundreds of uniforms.

Samuels, who had served as the clubhouse manager for 27 seasons, was suspended without pay after the gambling allegations were revealed. In addition to the post of clubhouse manager, he also held the positions of equipment manager and traveling secretary.

On most teams, the three jobs are held by two or three different people. Because he held all three, Samuels had unfettered access to everything at the club, and he operated, one person briefed on the case said, with almost no oversight.

He had control of the team’s road account, tickets, equipment purchases and other matters.

As a result, where most teams would purchase 10 jerseys for each player every year, Samuels would buy many times more, the person said.

The Mets, in a brief statement, said they had cooperated with the investigation and would have no further comment because the case was “an ongoing criminal matter.”

It was routine for team members to sign bats and balls and jerseys, which were used by the team for legitimate purposes, like marketing and auctions and for the use of employees in the team’s front office, the person briefed on the case said. As a result, it was not out of the ordinary for Samuels to regularly ask players to sign equipment or uniforms.

A great deal of equipment and jerseys that came under scrutiny in the inquiry was signed by Mike Piazza, Tom Glavine and Roberto Alomar, the person said.