Pokemon card thief smashes through shop wall & steals $250k in products

Minnesota police are searching for a thief who stole over $250,000 worth of Pokemon cards from a local gaming store. The burglar smashed through the shop’s walls to steal the TCG collectibles. 

What sounds like a scene from a heist film, a local shop in Forest Lake Minnesota had over $250k in Pokemon cards stolen after a thief created a hole in the store’s wall.

According to the gaming retailer’s owner, the break-in has left the establishment completely wiped out of all its stock. Police are now searching for the burglar who was recorded on security cameras.

Burglar steals $250k in Pokemon Cards from gaming store

The theft took place on February 9, 2022, after a burglar broke into the Punch Out Gaming store in Forest, Lake Minnesota. As reported by FOX9, the criminal was able to avoid tripping any door alarms by knocking a hole into the store’s wall from the unoccupied shop next door.

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After crawling through the space, the thief was able to clear out two storage rooms full of Pokemon Trading Card Game collectibles. In an interview with the outlet, shop owner Eric Johnson explained, “I did inventory and it was over $250k worth of Pokemon product. The criminal must have had help because there was a lot of boxes.”

He also clarified that the store would rather get the stolen products back than insurance money due to the TCG’s explosion in popularity. “I can’t recover these Pokemon card products because our distributors don’t have them,” he said. “So even with insurance money, that doesn’t do us any good.”

Fox reporter Mary McGuire tweeted out security footage of the theft and added, “They completely cleaned out two entire storage rooms full of products…but left behind all of the plush toys.”

According to the shop owner, Pokemon cards are in such high demand in 2022 that it’s more damaging that the shop now has no product to sell as they can no longer serve customers.

With the increasing TCG shortages, it could be months before the gaming store is able to get their hands on more products to sell. “When I realized how much money and time we put into it, I just started crying,” Johnson said.