Cops are on the hunt for a pair of hammer-wielding masked bandits who stole 1000’s of {dollars} value of collectible Pokémon playing cards from two Detroit-area shops over a five-day crime spree earlier this month.
The cardboard thieves hit each shops within the early morning earlier than both was open and prompted large injury to 1 by smashing the glass shows showcasing the playing cards, in accordance with cops and studies.
Within the first heist, the duo — wearing all black and sporting full face coverings — hit RIW Hobbies & Gaming in Livonia on Could 16 round 5 a.m., Fox 2 Detroit reported.
Retailer proprietor Pam Willoughby got here in to open the store later that morning and found her glass instances shattered and her Pokémon playing cards lacking.
She checked her safety cameras and watched the footage in horror as the 2 Pokémon perps smashed her show instances with a hammer, grabbed the playing cards, and stuffed them in sacks earlier than operating off.
“After I really watched them simply standing within the constructing by themselves swinging a hammer, it was just a little unnerving — it was an invasion,” Willoughby advised WXYZ.
She advised Fox 2 that the bandits value her $12,000 between the injury to her retailer and the worth of the playing cards.
She believes the sticky-fingered duo might have taken the stash to promote on the Motor Metropolis Comedian Con, the place a whole lot of distributors collect to commerce Pokémon and different comparable playing cards — which started the exact same day of her break-in.
A couple of days later, on Could 20, once more round 5 a.m., a equally dressed hammer-wielding suspect broke into Everlasting Video games in Warren, the place he stole extra Pokémon playing cards, safety footage reveals. That point, the bandit leapt over the show case, crammed the playing cards right into a sack, and escaped, in accordance with WXYZ.
“They didn’t smash out the showcase however hopped the showcase, opened up the showcase after which crouched down and took, took, hopped over and left,” Everlasting Video games assistant supervisor Dakota Olszewski advised Fox 2.
Olszewski mentioned they stole $3,500 value of singles — uncommon playing cards which are almost unimaginable to restock.
“I don’t suppose we’re going to discover the playing cards particularly, which is a bummer as a result of they’re fairly cool,” she mentioned.
This isn’t the primary time that Pokémon playing cards have been on the heart of prison exercise and violent habits.
In January, cops have been almost referred to as to a Costco in Los Angeles when bedlam broke out between clients jostling over the coveted playing cards. Wild footage captured an older buyer wrapping a youthful buyer in a bear hug throughout the brawl.
The youthful man smashed the attacker within the face together with his elbow whereas a feminine shopper yelled at him.
“Get the f–okay off of me bro,” one shopper mentioned, in accordance with a video posted on X by YouTuber DisguisedToast.
A couple of months later, a not-so-friendly Spider-Man was arrested after safety digicam footage caught him breaking right into a retailer in northern Virginia. Joel Brown, 20, was accused of robbing a family-owned collectibles retailer sporting a Spider-Man go well with to hide his true id and making off with uncommon, restricted version Pokémon playing cards.
With tariffs hurting the market, Pokémon and different buying and selling playing cards are seeing a surge in demand as traders search out alternate options past the standard combine of economic standbys.
The buying and selling card business is valued at greater than $15 billion as of 2024.
