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Nearly $115,000 in rare Pokemon cards stolen from Mass. collectibles store

Nearly $115,000 in rare Pokemon cards were stolen from a New Bedford collectibles shop early Tuesday morning, according to one of the store's co-owners. Around 2:30 a.m. on July 8, a man smashed two glass doors to get into 1st Edition Collectibles on Purchase Street, co-owner Filipe Andre said Thursday afternoon. The thief quickly stole two vintage Pokemon card booster boxes, five Charizard cards and one Blastoise card from the store's display cabinet — all of which are individually worth thousands of dollars. The shop has closed in the wake of the theft as Andre and the store's two other co-owners figure out how to move forward. This is the first time they've experienced something like this, and because the store can only be accessed from inside a multi-unit building with its own security measures, they never expected it, the 32-year-old said. 'We just kinda lulled ourselves into a false sense of security that way,' Andre said. 'We have no choice at this point but to kinda take it on the chin and tighten up our security in-store and go from there.' New Bedford police are investigating the theft, but no arrests had been made as of Thursday afternoon, the police department said in an email. The thief broke in through the building's courtyard instead of the front door, indicating familiarity with its layout, as well as the store's entrances, Andre said. Furthermore, the fact that the thief stole classic, popular Pokemon cards indicates that he's knowledgeable about this type of collectible, the store owner said. Because of this, Andre strongly suspects the thief is someone who has visited the shop many times, though neither he nor its other co-owners recognized the man caught on the store's security cameras. 'It was very targeted. They were in and out within 20 seconds,' he said. ' ... They were very selective about what they took, and they knew exactly where everything was.' Nearly $115,000 worth of collectible Pokemon cards were stolen from 1st Edition Collectibles in New Bedford on July 8. Nearly $115,000 worth of collectible Pokemon cards were stolen from 1st Edition Collectibles in New Bedford on July 8. Nearly $115,000 worth of collectible Pokemon cards were stolen from 1st Edition Collectibles in New Bedford on July 8. Nearly $115,000 worth of collectible Pokemon cards were stolen from 1st Edition Collectibles in New Bedford on July 8. Nearly $115,000 worth of collectible Pokemon cards were stolen from 1st Edition Collectibles in New Bedford on July 8. Nearly $115,000 worth of collectible Pokemon cards were stolen from 1st Edition Collectibles in New Bedford on July 8. Nearly $115,000 worth of collectible Pokemon cards were stolen from 1st Edition Collectibles in New Bedford on July 8. Nearly $115,000 worth of collectible Pokemon cards were stolen from 1st Edition Collectibles in New Bedford on July 8. But even if the thief is a Pokemon card collector, Andre thinks the thief stole the cards intending to sell them — not keep them for himself, he said. Charizard cards are typically the most popular and valuable, and most of the stolen items are expensive because they're vintage and first edition, not to mention well-known. As such, Andre believes the thief took 'what he knew he could sell.' Trying to sell the cards would be a risky move for the thief and could help police identify him, Andre said. The items have a trackable serial number and would be flagged as stolen if he tries to sell them through most venues. But even if the thief somehow manages to get around this, the stolen items are so rare that any listing or attempted sale would be worth investigating, Andre said. As such, 1st Edition Collectibles' large, devoted community of supporters is monitoring card markets in the hopes of catching the thief as he tries to sell them. 'A lot of people are keeping their eyes open for similar items being sold. [The stolen cards] are not stuff you run into every day,' he said. ' ... We have a lot of eyes out there, and that's our main hope in getting things back or at least trying to catch him at this point.' The theft hasn't left 1st Edition Collectibles or its owners struggling to make ends meet, but it was still a nasty shock, Andre said. 'We're not gonna have any problems feeding our families. But whenever you get that big of a theft of $115,000 worth of inventory, it's never fun,' he said. 'Working years and years to build that up — to have it all taken away in 20 seconds is not a great feeling." Andre and the other co-owners hope to reopen the shop on July 15, but it will depend on how quickly they can have their door replaced. In the meantime, they are beefing up the store's security measures. 'At the end of the day, we're blessed to have friends and family that support us and rally behind us, and just a huge, great community of fellow hobbyists that are out there looking for this guy and have our backs,' he said. 'So we're gonna rally, okay. We're gonna be back better than ever.' Former Mass. firefighter gets prison sentence for stealing dead 13-year-old's identity Holyoke drug trafficker gets 6 years for having gun while on release from feds Mass. woman charged in connection with attacking 4 people she didn't know Roslindale man sentenced to prison for killing man while racing on I-93 Ex-Boston cop accused of beating intoxicated man on St. Patrick's Day weekend released Read the original article on MassLive.