Blood at scene of Pokémon card theft links man to other game shop burglaries, cops say
An Oklahoma man was sentenced to jail time for stealing tens of thousands of dollars worth of trading cards, including Pokémon and Magic: the Gathering cards, from game stores in multiple states, officials said.
The 25-year-old Tulsa man was sentenced June 24 to two years and three months in prison for second-degree burglary in Indian Country, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
He is also ordered to three years of supervised release and a $298,711.90 restitution payment, officials said.
The man’s attorney declined to comment to McClatchy News on June 25.
Security footage captured the man using a rock to break into Dragonslayer Games in Tulsa around 4 a.m. on Feb. 26, 2021, court records show.
He was seen breaking a glass case and taking Magic: the Gathering Cards, among other merchandise, which the shop’s owner estimated to be worth nearly $50,000, according to a criminal complaint.
The store owner was able to identify the suspect as a regular customer, officials said.
Blood at the scene, left after the man cut himself on glass, was used to connect his DNA to evidence found at “similar robberies in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Texas,” officials said.
The man’s DNA matched DNA in blood found at a burglary at Realms of Games in Troy, Illinois, where Pokémon cards and sports memorabilia were stolen, officials said.
Investigators found six large containers in a storage unit rented by the man full of game trading cards and sports trading cards, court records show.
Some of the rarest Pokémon cards can be worth more than $40,000 each, collectors say.
Court records did not indicate which cards the man stole.
This story was originally published June 25, 2024 at 10:36 AM with the headline "Blood at scene of Pokémon card theft links man to other game shop burglaries, cops say."
