Sports collection to be auctioned off today in Fort Bend

I'm not into collectables, but this sound like it may be a good way to pick up some bargains.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3318308

SPORTS HISTORY UP FOR BID
Need a Mantle card? Unitas? Thief's loss can be your gain
Sports collection confiscated by Fort Bend County is auctioned today

By ERIC HANSON
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle



ROSENBERG - When Fort Bend County holds its annual auction today, a few out-of-the-ordinary items will be mixed in with the usual worn-out chairs, battered file cabinets and obsolete typewriters.

The county will also be selling a collection of sports memorabilia including autographed photos of Nolan Ryan, Mickey Mantle and Johnny Unitas along with thousands of vintage trading cards and other items.

"This is the first time we have ever had sports memorabilia. You don't come across things like this all that often," said Russell Loehr, the county's inventory control manager.

The collection was amassed by Raj Trivedi, 29, who forfeited it to the state as part of a plea bargain arrangement with the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office in a theft case three years ago.

Trivedi accepted a three-year prison term and agreed to hand over the collectibles so the county could sell the property and give the proceeds to his victims, said Assistant District Attorney Mike Elliott.

Elliott said more than 100 people lost a total of about $110,000 to Trivedi, who was living in the Katy area at the time.

"He was ripping off people all over the place," Elliott said.

Fort Bend County investigators first became involved with Trivedi about three years ago, said sheriff's Detective David Schultz.

Trivedi started selling electronic goods on eBay and other Web sites beginning in 2000, Schultz said. Trivedi was living in San Diego at the time.

"It was for a ridiculously low price. He did ship some of the product. Then it got to the point where he was not shipping the product and he was stalling his eBay bidders," he said.

Schultz said there were more than 1,000 victims in the United States and abroad with losses mounting to more than $1 million.

"When he fled San Diego he moved to Katy, Texas, and he continued to victimize another 110 people," Schultz said.

Prosecutors in California caught up to Trivedi, and he was returned to that state where theft and fraud charges led to a three-year prison sentence.

Elliott said Trivedi's Texas prison term, handed down in November 2002 and the California sentence from March of that year were served concurrently in a California prison.

According to news accounts in San Diego, most of Trivedi's victims lost between $800 to $1,000 each.

California prison officials said Trivedi was released from prison on parole in September 2003.

Schultz said that while Trivedi was running his Internet theft operation, he was also putting together an impressive collection of sports memorabilia. Schultz said police do not know if Trivedi obtained the sports items legally or illegally.

"We could never tell where it came from. He also dabbled in selling those items on eBay as well," Schultz said.

As county employees prepared for the auction they were understandably curious about the value of the collection.

Spread out on tables in a giant room with hundreds of old computers are boxes full of baseball cards and photographs.

Several large framed pictures are on display including one of a grinning Mantle next to manager Casey Stengel after the slugger won the American League Triple Crown in 1956.

There is also a stunning black-and-white photo of Ted Williams taking a mighty swing on Opening Day in 1947.

Loehr, who is accustomed to selling old desks and burnt-out microwave ovens, said county officials have not had the collection appraised.

"We are not in the position to judge a lot of this stuff," he said.

"This is not my area of expertise. I had it as a kid and I had a big shoebox full of stuff, and when I went to college, my mom threw that stuff out along with my comic books."

Loehr said he and other county employees have not been able to check the authenticity of the autographed items.

"It's a buyer beware situation. In looking at some of the stuff, we do have a couple of things that I am sure are legitimate items," he said.

The auction begins at 10 a.m. at the county annex building at 4520 Reading in Rosenberg.

Cash, checks with a bank letter of guarantee and credit cards will be accepted.