Pokémon card theft: Suspect sought in $7,000 Tempe card shop burglary

International crime trend hits Tempe Pokemon store

A suspect is accused of stealing Pokemon cards worth thousands of dollars from a Tempe store. FOX 10's Andrew Christiansen has more on how this international trend has hit home. 

TEMPE, Ariz. - An international smash and grab trend has hit Tempe, targeting large quantities of Pokémon cards with values in the thousands of dollars. 

Local perspective:

A local store is the latest target, where a suspect made off with cards worth thousands. 

The crime aligns with a trend that has hit other shops in Las Vegas, New York and even as far as Canada and England. A suspect stole a bunch of cards from the Tempe store, called Bussin or Bustin'. The suspect hit the front door with a sledgehammer and then smashed through the door leading into the card shop.

What we know:

Surveillance video shared by the owner shows the suspect going through the part of the door that was glass, grabbing packs of Pokémon cards and other merchandise off the shelves, and putting them into a bin. The owner stated it all happened under two minutes, as the suspect stole more than $7,000 worth of merchandise.

"When I first pulled in I realized that the window had been broken, didn’t know what was taken," said Chuck Shakta, owner of Skyluxx Grinds, Eats, and Suites. "I'm still picking up glass everywhere I go."

Beyond the stolen inventory, the suspect also caused more than $10,000 worth of damage. 

"He did a lot of damage to a small business," said Shakta. "This type of stuff, you can get caught. You can end up going to jail for something that's petty. Get a job. Get a life."

Big picture view:

A trading show for Pokémon cards took place in Mesa, where the owner of the event explained that these cards can be valued at as little as 25 cents or as high as database figures in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. What makes a card valuable is its rarity, adding that his own shop has also been robbed in the past.

"Some are way more rare than others, so just replacing them just depends on how rare the card is itself," Vincent Aceto, the Power Card Show owner said. "Every set has a main chase card, which is the most valuable card in the set, which is what everyone is chasing and trying to get."

In Anaheim, California, thieves stole $180,000 worth of Pokémon cards and in Chicago, thieves stole about $100,000 worth.

"It is very hard to get these cards replaced just because there are only so many of them out there," Aceto aded.

At the card show, a few vendors utilized security cameras over their cards. Back at Bussin or Bustin', the operators take their most valuable cards home at night, so that none of the highest-value items get stolen. 

What they're saying:

Shakta hopes that by putting in louder alarms and more cameras, he won't get hit again.

"It's really not fair to have somebody out there doing this kind of stuff to small businesses," he said. 

What's next:

Police are continuing to look into the suspect who stole the cards.