Hi, I’m a long time efour reader, and first time poster. Unfortunately my first post is under less than ideal circumstances, but I feel like I should share my situation.
I moved from Las Vegas, NV to Florida in late Summer/Fall of 2020 through the military. My personal belongings were packed by a company called All American Moving & Storage (AAFI) that was subcontracted by Coleman Worldwide. I’ve moved a few times in my career and I always transport my “valuable” items (which includes my graded card collection) in my own personal vehicle. To avoid getting those items accidentally packaged by the movers, I placed them in a designated “do not pack” part of the house. During packing, my wife saw one of the movers flipping through a binder of cards in that pile, and he commented something about being a collector himself. She told him not to pack those items, and we didn’t think much about it until later. Fast forward a couple months and I’ve settled into my new house. I had unpacked most of the boxes including my cards. It was at this time I noticed 8 cards were missing (list of cards and certs at the end of this post). I thought maybe I had packed them in a different box, but it seemed strange to me that I would separate them from the rest of the collection. So I eventually unpack all my boxes and I still don’t find them. I figured that they would eventually turn up somewhere, but I really didn’t have anything else to go on at the time. Time goes by and they still don’t show up. I provide formal feedback to the company through the military Traffic Management Office that the move went well and closed the move orders (the movers didn’t move my cards so I didn’t associate these missing cards with my other household goods). It’s now Summer of 2021 and I read a posting (on this forum) about cards stolen and tracking them down through their certs numbers. I pull up my records and search for my missing cards. It turns out that they were sold on eBay through a store called dnbliquidations (psa-pikachu Collectibles | eBay Stores) from February to March of 2021. The seller is located in Henderson, NV. I contacted the seller and he told me he purchased them in person from a store called Wiiplay Games East (3310 S Nellis Blvd, Las Vegas) from a person named “Alex”. At that point I filed a police report with LVMPD. I worked with a detective that questioned Alex and was told that he “purchased the cards from a random old lady at a swap meet in Las Vegas” and didn’t keep any of her contact information. For him to have found a random old lady with PSA 10 reverse holo Aquapolis cards at a swap meet he must be pretty lucky. Unfortunately, the detectives and DA’s office had a hard time defining the fair market value of the cards at the time of the theft. In NV, a petit larceny has a one year statute of limitations, whereas grand larceny is longer plus it gives authorities more options for stolen property that has left the state. They used my original purchase price of the cards which amounted to less than $1200 therefore defining it as petit larceny, and since the cards were already sold and had left the state, they essentially reached the of their investigation.
The mover that stole my cards clearly knew what he was doing because the timing of the move meant that the crime wouldn’t be discovered for several months, and there’s no way he hasn’t done this to other customers. Having someone that you trust and develop a relationship with inside your home, handling your possessions, and then stealing from you is a pretty terrible feeling. Judging by the cards he took he must have done it in a rush because there were definitely more valuable cards in the vicinity. I think when he reached inside he must have just happened to center on my Aquapolis collection and the two random promos.
Ideally I’d like to get the cards back, though they now belong to new owners. If anyone knows the current owners/are the current owners, I’d greatly appreciate working some type of deal to return them. I can provide copies of the police report, communication with the detectives, military move orders, moving company information, communication with dnbliquidations, and whatever else may be useful.
Stolen cards:
Pokemon Aquapolis Elekid (9/147) Reverse Holo (PSA10) 41044710
Pokemon Aquapolis Entei (10/147) Reverse Holo (PSA10) 41037837
Pokemon Aquapolis Exeggutor (12/147) Reverse Holo (PSA10) 42499990
Pokemon Aquapolis Houndoom (15/147) Reverse Holo (PSA10) 28969655
Pokemon Aquapolis Azumarill (4/147) Reverse Holo (PSA10) 45070374
Pokemon Aquapolis Blissey (6/147) Reverse Holo (PSA10) 43083571
Pokemon Movie Promo Pikachu (4) Non-holo stamped (PSA10) 24707057
Pokemon Movie Promo Electabuzz (2) Non-holo stamped (PSA10) 23805224