A former Augusta National Golf Club employee has been charged in a Chicago federal court with transporting millions in stolen club merchandise and memorabilia to Florida.
Robert Brendan Globensky, 39, moved the stolen goods from Augusta to Tampa from 2009 to 2022, according to a Tuesday filing in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Globensky, an Evans native who goes by Brendan, now has a May 15 arraignment and change-of-plea date set Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman.
Typically federal defendants enter guilty pleas on those dates after negotiations with prosecutors.
Globensky is represented by Georgia defense attorney Thomas Church. Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern Illinois District Sean Franzblau is named as prosecutor for the felony embezzlement case.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Globensky worked up to 14 years as a warehouse coordinator at the hyper-exclusive golf club, giving him access to its extensive array of merchandise, memorabilia and other gear.
Tournament patrons, who saw Scottie Scheffler win a second Green Jacket and a record $3.6 million purse Sunday, collect everything from drink cups and cookies to pricey performance wear, jewelry and ceramic golfer gnomes during coveted visits to the tournament.
Like tournament badges, the memorabilia can sell at a huge premium online to desirous patrons from around the world.
The stolen items included “millions of dollars’ worth of Masters golf tournament merchandise and historical memorabilia” that Globensky knew was stolen from the club, the filing said.
According to several social media posts, Globensky was a warehouse manager at the club until around 2021, when he began working as a mortgage broker.
He and his wife owned a $2 million home in the Reserve at Champions Retreat – the riverfront golf club designed by Masters champions Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, where early rounds of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur are played, according to property records.
The couple challenged Columbia County’s 2021 $1 million reassessment of its value, then sold the house for $2 million to a Textron executive last year, according to property records.
The Illinois court document, called an information, states Globensky engaged in the transport of the stolen goods in Augusta, in the Northern U.S. Court District of Georgia, which is metro Atlanta, and beyond.
The charges were not filed in the Southern Judicial District of Georgia, where the club and Augusta are located.
If convicted, Globensky will have to forfeit any property or its equal value that he derived from the proceeds, it said.
