A Concord sports memorabilia dealer has pleaded guilty to wire fraud after he was caught selling fake sports collectibles, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Daniel Damato, 42, was charged with one count of wire fraud in October and admitted to trying to obstruct the FBI’s investigation into him, prosecutors said.

Between 2022 and 2024, Damato doctored and invented false provenance to valuable items in order to make them look like authentic sports collectibles, the DOJ said. He would then inflate the prices and sell them to people.

Damato admitted to selling a baseball bat in 2023 for $100,000 that he said was used by Willie Mays in the 1954 World Series; in reality, the bat was a factory error and an inch shorter than the one actually used by Mays. Once the buyer sent Damato the hundred grand, Damato also never sent him anything, prosecutors said.

He also sold things like a Mays jersey that was never worn by the baseball great, taking in $50,000 for that con.

The FBI raided Damato’s home in October 2024 and the DOJ said he contacted at least one potential witness in his case to try and obstruct the investigation.

Damato has a sentencing hearing scheduled for March and he is facing up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000, prosecutors said.

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.