Man indicted in stolen boxing contracts case

Bill Gang

Monday, Feb. 21, 2000 | 11:06 a.m.

The theft of contracts for boxing matches involving some of the biggest names in the sport -- which later were marketed as sports memorabilia -- has resulted in the indictment of a Las Vegas man.

The original contracts and license applications were pilfered from the files of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and replaced with photocopies.

Craig Maraldo is scheduled to be arraigned March 16 in District Judge Mark Gibbons' courtroom on four counts of possession of stolen property in incidents alleged to have occurred between May 20, 1997, and June 23, 1998.

The indictment does not charge Maraldo with actually stealing the documents, but it does allege he mailed the contracts and other papers from his Las Vegas home to Craig Hamilton of Brookhaven, N.Y., for resale.

Hamilton was a witness for the prosecution during Thursday's grand jury session that resulted in Friday's indictment. The case is being prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Brian Kunzi.

The case involves contracts and other documents signed by 22 boxers, including Felix Trinidad, Ray Mancini, former heavyweight champion and recently imprisoned Michael Dokes, former heavyweight champion Michael Spinks, Roger Mayweather, Randall "Tex" Cobb and Tim Witherspoon.

Trinidad is the current World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation welterweight champion.

Other documents involved Michael Carbajal, Livingstone Bramble, Carlos Mendoza, Wilfredo Gomez, Mike Weaver, Albert Davila, Guadalupe Pintor, Don Curry, Bruce Curry, John Mugabi, Juan Meza, Richard Fliehr, Salvador Sanchez, Luis Ramon Campas and Danny Lopez.

The documents date from as early as 1978 to the Trinidad contract signed Sept. 15, 1994.

The indictment alleges Maraldo came into possession of the documents on four separate occasions and should have known that the property was stolen.