(Reza Madadi — the John Dillinger of purses.)
The Swedish tabloid Expressen is reporting that UFC lightweight Reza “Mad Dog” Madadi was arrested Friday on a charge of grand theft in his home country. Bloody Elbow summarized and translated the article for details of the alleged heist:
“One of Sweden’s most successful star athletes, in his sport, is suspected for a smash-and-grab burglary on Stureplan in Stockholm. The loot was luxury handbags worth a million kronor (SEK) [approximately $150,000]. The sports star, who denies [the] charges, was arrested after a dramatic car chase.
Madadi was not specifically named in the tabloid article, which referenced prior legal troubles of the Iranian-Swedish fighter — including a 2009 arrest for an alleged cash depot robbery* — but court documents later confirmed that Madadi was indeed arrested last Friday. Madadi is said to have a public defender representing him and is fighting the charges and maintaining that he is innocent. If he is convicted, BE reports that he could face up to six years in prison.
Madadi’s last fight was a submission win over Michael Johnson at UFC on Fuel 9 in Sweden. The lightweight was scheduled to face TUF 15 winner Michael Chiesa next in Seattle this coming July until he encountered visa problems and was removed from the card.
After the jump: lots more details from the handbag heist, via the Expressen article.
It was just before 5 AM on Friday morning when the alarm went off in the exclusive handbag boutique “Bottega Veneta” on Birger Jarlsgatan in Stockholm. The boutiques CC TV registered how three people struggled to get inside.
– They were banging against the door with a metal object. It took probably five minutes before they were inside, an employee of the store says.
– In spite of the prolonged process, the police did not get there in time.
– When the thieves came inside they cleaned out the boutique of the most expensive bags and ran out again. They knew exactly what they wanted, continues the employee, who estimates the value of the stolen good to about a million kronor (SEK).
– The police took up the hunt for the get-away car and managed to stop them.
– “We have two in custody. One of them is suspected of grand theft, and the other for aiding grand theft,” says prosecutor Olof Calmvik.
* When reached for comment from his Moroccan prison cell, Lee Murray simply stated that he was not impressed with Madadi’s alleged performance.