HPD recognized for effort to find stolen Super Bowl jerseys

HOUSTON – Houston police were honored for their work in helping to find Super Bowl champion Tom Brady’s stolen jersey.

Massachusetts State Rep. Harold Naughton recognized the Houston Police Department during a presentation Monday.

Naughton chairs the Massachusetts House of Representatives' Public Safety and Homeland Safety Committee. He is traveling through Houston for business.

Brady, the quarterback of the New England Patriots, had the jerseys he wore during this year’s Super Bowl and the 2015 big game returned to Gillette Stadium last week, the FBI announced Thursday.

Raw video: HPD honored for efforts to find stolen Super Bowl jerseys

Brady's 2017 jersey went missing from the Patriots' locker room after the team's win over the Atlanta Falcons on Feb. 5, touching off an investigation stretching from Boston to the Mexican border.

Mexican authorities searched the property of Mexican media executive Martin Mauricio Ortega, where they found the jersey, along with a Brady jersey that disappeared after the 2015 Super Bowl. A Denver Broncos helmet also was found.

Ortega has not been charged in the case and has not commented. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment on the investigation.

In a statement Thursday, Patriots owner Robert Kraft said he looks forward to giving the jerseys to Brady when he returns to New England.

Kraft thanked the FBI, Mexican authorities and other law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation.

"It is another example of the importance of teamwork and what can be accomplished when everyone works together," Kraft said.