CINCINNATI (WXIX) – While Bengals star Joe Burrow was in Dallas for “Monday Night Football,” his Anderson Township home was broken into, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s office confirmed the break-in happened a little after 8 p.m. Monday.
Olivia Ponton, a model and social media influencer, found a shattered bedroom window and the room “ransacked,” according to an incident report from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.
She called her mother, Diane Ponton, who made the call to 911, the incident report shows.
Hamilton County dispatchers took the call from the mother who reported Olivia Ponton was at the quarterback’s home when the break-in occurred, according to a recording of the call released to FOX19 NOW.
“Someone is trying to break into the house right now,” Diane Ponton said on the recorded call. “My daughter is there. This is Joe Burrow’s house. She is staying there; He is at the football game.”
She also reported her daughter told her “someone was in the house.”
Olivia Ponton was identified on the incident report as an employee of Burrow’s.
An officer was already working security at Burrow’s home when the break-in was reported to 911, the Hamilton County dispatcher told the caller.
When deputies arrived and looked around the home, an officer advised the suspects were no longer there. Deputies talked with neighbors to get surveillance video of the possible suspects.
A spokeswoman for the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office clarified Tuesday night that the officer at Burrow’s home on a security detail is a “special Hamilton County deputy.”
“Good evening – to clarify, there was an off-duty Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office Special Deputy at the scene when the burglary occurred (at Burrow’s home),” the spokesman, Kyla Woods, wrote in a media update.
A special deputy is someone who has completed the police academy to get certified in Ohio as a law enforcement officer, not an actual Hamilton County deputy on the sheriff’s regular paid staff as a deputy out on road patrol or assigned to a specialized investigative unit.
Special deputies can be retired from the agency or another one, or a correction officer. Street experience is not a requirement, according to the sheriff’s office website.
“The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Special Deputies is a volunteer organization committed to supporting and operating the Sheriff’s Office. The Special Deputies are comprised of people interested in serving their community as law enforcement deputies,” the website states.
Special Deputies have the same arrest powers and uniforms as full-time officers and are Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA) certified.
Special Deputies provide security at various community events, concerts, sporting events, and school and private events and can be called out by Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey for emergencies.
“Applications for the Special Deputies are always being accepted. Our hiring process includes interviews and an extensive background check process,” the sheriff’s office website says.
It was not immediately clear Tuesday how a special deputy came to be the one guarding Burrow’s home at a time when other law enforcement is investigating break-ins at other NFL players’ homes or who set up the security detail.
It also was not clear where that deputy was when the break-in occurred and/or if that person also reported the break-in or if Olivia Ponton’s mother was the only one.
The NFL recently issued a security memo about home burglaries after the residences of Kansas City Chiefs players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were broken into, the Associated Press reported last month.
Professional athletes’ homes were being “increasingly targeted for burglaries by organized and skilled groups,” the memo stated, according to the AP.
Burrow’s break-in occurred while he was out of state playing a game.
“Officials noted these groups target the homes on days the athletes have games,” the AP report notes.
Mahomes’ and Kelce’s homes were broken into before and on the day of the Chiefs’ Oct. 7 home game against the New Orleans Saints.
A spokeswoman with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday they do not believe Burrow’s break-in is connected to these other burglaries.
FOX19 NOW reached out to the Cincinnati office of the FBI to see if agents are investigating Burrow’s break-in.
An agency spokesman said he could not confirm or deny any investigation, according to FBI policy.
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