A court in Manacor is investigating two employees at the Rafa Nadal Academy for the alleged theft of sports equipment with an estimated value of over €6,000.
The thefts apparently occurred in December last year. The academy initially reported the theft of four padel rackets to the National Police. These rackets had been for the winners of a tournament. Soon after, it was discovered that six other padel rackets were missing.
A week after the thefts were reported, one of the employees under investigation offered a student padel rackets that were listed on a secondhand website. The student reported this to her instructor, who recognised the rackets as those which had been stolen. The police interviewed the employee. She told them that she was doing a favour for her brother-in-law, who also worked at the centre.
The website's account was traced to a third party, but the email address and phone number belonged to the academy employee, whose home address was listed as the collection address for potential buyers.
An exclusive tennis racket signed by Rafa Nadal was also found to be for sale. The National Police then arrested him and verified that he had accessed various rooms using his credentials, including the one where the stolen goods had been stored.
The female employee was summoned as a suspect but wasn't arrested. The third person involved told police that he had put the items up for sale on his Wallapop account, charging commissions of between 10 and 20 per cent.
All the police information was forwarded to the courts in Manacor. The two employees are being investigated for alleged theft, and the third for receiving stolen goods.