Stolen Cards ( Las Vegas)

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

Here is your Entei on ebay

Sorry to hear that happened.

Edit: On second look, not so sure about that link I put because the second image shows the back with a different cert… Yeah that back photo belongs to a Dark Hypno but could just be an honest mistake of photos because the background is the same for both.

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First off, welcome and thank you for your service here as a US resident myself.

Second, while an extremely unfortunate situation here coupled with an at lengths story in detail of what occurred, im not sure much can be done by community members other than keeping an eye out if they may see anything somewhere along the road. It might hurt in hearing this but at this point it probably would be far easier to cut your losses and slowly figure out a new avenue of attack moving forward, as thankfully all that was taken were in fact set cards. While possibly sentimental, the work involved here might be all too time consuming for both you and others, so im not sure what will come from sending out a massive SOS to the community at large aside from just letting others know about the situation.

In the end, im sorry to hear about that all and while heartbreaking, these at the end of the day are non essential goods. Things like this can be replaced, and while other times some theft that E4 here has been subjected to hearing about involved items that were one of a kind and priceless, the point still stands that only so much can be done and even moreso out of the goodness of others hearts when they dont need to do work for free. So with that id take away these points to finalize this in a tl dr fashion:

  • Be thankfully nothing of more significance was taken and also thankful that you werent hurt or harmed physically.
  • Know they can be replaced
  • People can and will only do so much to help others, and when the situation involves time consuming work it may sadly get ignored
  • Take more precautions down the road if able to do so in the placement and handling of ones belongings.

Hope this helps and I do hope you come to some mental resolve on these things down the road.

2 Likes

@dizzle24, Thank you, and I appreciate your insight. Definitely a learning lesson going forward. Maybe my story can help someone else out down the road.

@greenpotatoes, Oh wow, nice find. I’ll contact the seller and get clarification on the images.

i would not contact the seller. I’d get those certs registered with your local police as stolen, then buy the card and when it ships contact ebay with the written report.

I have a stolen cert that i have on record with the police and I check every so often to see if it surfaces on ebay.

2 Likes

While many sellers on ebay are genuine, and may unknowingly be holding hot goods, they may be bad actors as well… especially with lesser feedback… who knows. I wouldn’t play my hand by contacting any seller over this sort of thing.

I’m sorry to hear this. I had cards stolen when I was younger. Movers also stole my friends collection… Nothing truly valuable, just his complete base set unltd (which he could replace easily if he truly wanted to). But the sentimental value was significant, and for me as well because I helped him complete it through trades years ago. SO I understand. Recently, we’ve also had a lot of porch pirates, and no matter how old you are, it never feels good, especially when you understand what has truly been done to you. So, you should proceed as you feel is best.

But it’s a good reminder for everyone: When dealing with ANY one you don’t completely trust, coming into your home, be very aware of what they can access, as these crimes are often inspired by opportunity.

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I’ve had my cards stolen before but by my nephew and when we were very young. I still think it’s messed up so I can’t imagine a situation with an adult professional stealing from you in your very own home. I’m really sorry to hear that and I hope karma bites that sucker. Good luck with retreiving or replacing them!

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@chrisbalestra, I’m familiar with that process…so how does Ebay respond to a recovered stolen item claim?

@xileets, Good call

I’m not sure how many hands the card has passed through, but do be careful buying the card. You don’t want to give away your address for $300, or any amount for that matter. A PO Box or having the police buy it on your behalf would be better.

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