A Philadelphia man has been sentenced to five years of probation and 100 hours of community service for attempting to sell more than $200,000 worth of memorabilia he said was signed by former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce.
Robert Capone admitted to trying to peddle 1,100 jerseys, helmets and other items in a scheme that he told a judge “embarrassed myself and embarrassed my family,” according to a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer published Monday, March 16. Capone, 52, added that it would “never happen again.”
He pleaded guilty to charges of theft by deception, deceptive business practices, conspiracy to commit theft by deception and forgery in connection with the scheme, which took place in June 2024, according to local outlet the Pottstown Mercury.
The judge also ordered Capone to pay back 80 percent of the nearly $72,000 to the fans he defrauded.
The items in question were not, in fact, signed by Kelce, 38, but by a friend of Capone’s, an artist named Alfred P. Sicoli. Sicoli, 51, pleaded guilty in November 2025 to forgery and related crimes, per the Inquirer. He received three years of probation, 50 hours of community service and was ordered to cover the remaining 20 percent of the restitution payment.
“He’s a really good friend,” Sicoli told a Montgomery County courtroom, adding that he and Capone have been friends for three decades. “This was not about a grand scheme to make a million dollars — it was just me helping him do some things.”
Assistant district attorney Gwendolyn Marie Kull explained that the duo’s crimes resulted in both a monetary and sentimental loss for the victims.
“There was a substantial economic impact to Capone’s customers in this case. In most cases, they lost the value of the merchandise, what they had paid for the merchandise. As we all know when you’re paying for an autographed signature, if it’s not a true autograph it’s not valued at anything,” Kull said, according to The Mercury.
She continued, “Some of the individuals in this case also suffered what I’ll call ‘sentimental loss’ in that these were one-of-a-kind sports memorabilia items that had special significance in their lives that were then destroyed by the actions of Alfred Sicoli and Robert Capone in forging Jason’s Kelce’s autograph on them.”
Judge Risa Vetri Ferman agreed that Capone and Sicoli harmed their victims “financially and emotionally,” per the Inquirer.
“Mr. Kelce is not here, but I have to believe there is damage to the player’s reputation,” Ferman explained at Capone’s sentencing. “It’s more than just a person or an item. It’s an industry.”
