Thieves take 39 seconds to steal US$15K worth of Pokémon cards from store

Thieves stealing thousands of dollars worth of Pokemon cards from a California hobby shop was the latest in a concerning trend of card thefts.

BRENTWOOD, Calif. – Thousands of dollars worth of Pokémon cards were stolen from a Brentwood, Calif., store over the weekend in a burglary that was caught on video.

Surveillance footage shows three masked thieves rushing into The Card Lab and leaping over display cases before taking Pokémon cards. The entire incident lasted about 39 seconds.

Video shows the suspects driving away in a Nissan Altima after stealing about US$15,000 (around C$21,000) worth of cards.

“My first thought was, I hope that my employee was OK, and I was relieved to see that she was. And then I also just kind of wanted to see what the damage was, what damage was done,” said store owner Ronnie Hackett.

Hackett said a manager was inside the store when the burglary happened Saturday night. He said she was upstairs at the time.

“I’m relieved that she was not downstairs because that could have been way worse. But she was upstairs doing our end of the day protocol,” he said.

The store opened two months ago, Hackett said.

The theft comes amid what some store owners describe as a growing trend of similar crimes targeting valuable trading cards. In recent years, some cards have surged in value, with certain packs now worth significant sums.

Another Brentwood store, Games of Brentwood, said it has also been targeted and has taken steps to increase security.

“Since we had our incident here we’ve completely rebuilt our security system. We’ve made sure our alarms are much better, we’ve added IR sensors. It’s not going to stop someone if they’re really determined but we’re as ready as we can be,” said Anthony Paoli of Games of Brentwood.

He said the cards can be difficult to trace and easy to sell.

“It’s easy to move on the second hand market it’s not traceable for the most part and they’re more valuable than they’ve ever been,” Paoli said.

Brentwood police are investigating the burglary.

“So I have faith and the only thing I can do now is just let them do their job,” Hackett said.

The Card Lab will remain closed for the next few days while additional security measures are put in place.