An Athens-Clarke County police officer and his department recently received a letter from the Chicago Bears thanking them for helping to recover memorabilia stolen from Roquan Smith, the all-American linebacker from the University of Georgia who was a first-round draft pick this year of the NFL football team.

The memorabilia from Smith’s time playing for the UGA Bulldogs included his helmet and the jerseys he wore in the Rose Bowl, the 2016 TaxSlayer Bowl and the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

The items were stolen May 5 from Smith’s car at The Mark apartment complex on Oconee Street. Police had valued the jerseys as worth up to $40,000 each “due to Mr. Smith’s clout at UGA and soon in the NFL,” according to the police theft report. Smith “stated that those belongings are priceless to him,” according to the report.

The Bears’ thank you letter singled out by name Officer Marcus McQuien, who lifted fingerprints from Smith’s car that led to the identification and arrest of the alleged thief, who police identified as Landyn Shane Durham, a 20-year-old UGA student.

Police were able to match the fingerprints to Durham because the student’s prints were on file in another jurisdiction, according to Epifanio Rodriguez, public information officer for the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.

Some of Smith’s items were recovered from the suspect’s Athens apartment and the others from the home of a relative of Durham in the northwest Georgia town of Summerville in Chattooga County, police said.

Arrest warrants were subsequently issued that charged Durham with two felony counts of entering an automobile with the intent to commit a crime. Durham surrendered May 10 at the Clarke County Jail and was released upon posting a total bond of $22,200.

The letter from the Bears was handwritten and signed by the team’s director of security, John Tarpey.

It read: “Ofc. McQuien and Dept., on behalf of the Bears,

“Thank you all for helping Roquan recover his stolen items. They would have been irreplaceable.

“We have you covered in Chicago!! You all are the best!!!”

Rodriguez, the police spokesman, said his department receives thank you letters from victims all the time, not just in high-profile cases.

“Our officers receive thank yous from the community on a regular basis, and they are a daily reminder on why we continue to do the work we do,” Rodriguez said.

Follow Joe Johnson on Facebook and Twitter at @JoeJohnsonABH.