A Fresno man was arrested after a burglary at a Kerman trading card store where more than 100 high-value collectible cards were stolen, according to police.<\/p>\n
Surveillance video captured a thief inside Player’s Price TCG during an overnight burglary Saturday morning. The store’s owner, Joe Quijano, said the suspect entered by cutting through the roof, a vent and a hallway wall before stealing merchandise.<\/p>\n
“For somebody to cut into a roof, cut through a vent, break my hallway wall and steal from us, that’s pretty crazy,” Quijano said.<\/p>\n
Quijano, who recently opened the business in August, said the thief stole Pok\u00e9mon cards valued between $10,000 and $20,000.<\/p>\n
“Right now Pokemon is very hot. I would say it’s gold. People call it the stock market,” Quijano said.<\/p>\n
Kerman police said the suspect stole more than 100 high-value cards, including 20 graded cards known as slabs.<\/p>\n
“He got a hold of a lot of singles, which is cards that are not graded – they’re called raw. And then he stole a bunch of graded cards that are called slabs. High-end slabs, low-end slabs, but the majority were high-end slabs,” Quijano said.<\/p>\n
After the burglary, Quijano posted security footage from the store on Instagram, prompting members of the trading card community to help identify the stolen items.<\/p>\n
“I think what a lot of people don’t know when it comes to these highly valuable collectibles is they can be traced, right?” Kerman Police Detective Eduardo Barrera said.<\/p>\n
According to police, that tracking led investigators to Tracy and ultimately to the suspect’s location in Northern California.<\/p>\n
“Definitely made our job easier, but it doesn’t mean our job is stopped,” Barrera said.<\/p>\n
Police said a 24-year-old Fresno man was arrested Sept. 20 on suspicion of possessing stolen property.<\/p>\n
“I think this is a great incident of where our citizens went above and beyond,” Barrera said.<\/p>\n
Quijano has since reopened Player’s Price TCG and has made upgrades to the store’s security system. Police said the suspect was arrested on a charge of possession of stolen property.<\/p>\n
For news updates, follow Christina Lopez on Facebook<\/a>, X<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n