A sports card dealer is alleging that a man stole approximately $2 million worth of rare baseball cards and inventory from a card show in Texas on Sunday in a coordinated group effort caught on video.
The owner of Legacy Cardz, Ashish Jain (who goes by Ash Jai), published security camera footage on X and pictures of the cards allegedly stolen from the Dallas Card Show at the Marriott Dallas Allen Hotel and Convention Center in Allen, Texas, on Sunday. The police report lists four unknown male suspects.
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“It appears from surveillance video that a group of organized individuals came in while one was distracting the victim, the other one moved in and took the briefcase full of cards and left before anyone realized what happened,” Allen Police Department officer Sammy Rippamonti toldThe Athletic.
The thieves made off with approximately 170 cards, according to a police report obtained byThe Athletic. Jai said on X the briefcase contained some of the most valuable baseball cards on the market.
“It was the one with all the meat,” Jai told Cllct regarding the briefcase. “They knew which one to take.”
Here is the best footage I have at the moment. In this video my team (the two african american boys with the afros, and the guy in the bright lime sweater in the back) Were carefully distracted by the 3 people you see in hats showing their phones. pic.twitter.com/ZNs3StGLjC
— Jay (@cardzzzzz4u) July 8, 2024
Among the pieces in the case were six 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle cards and two 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson rookie cards. The most valuable of the Mantle cards had a PSA grade of 6 (on the card condition grading scale out of 10), which Jai was selling for $175,000.
Jai told The Athletic he spoke with the major grading companies, and they assured him they have detailed scans of the raw versions of the cards, which are currently held in barcoded cases.
“Should the current cases be cracked and the raw cards attempted to be resubmitted for grading, there is a high likelihood that the grading companies will identify them as stolen,” he said. “So essentially it makes these cards unsellable.”
All of the certification numbers attached with those barcoded cards have been terminated, Jai told The Athletic, meaning if someone scans the case, they will come up stolen.
On X, Jai broke down the footage and explained how the man who took the case was stacking chairs near his booth for over an hour, making it seem like he worked at the convention center.
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“These guys had been scoping us out all day after footage review, and even went (through) a process of changing clothes,” he wrote. “It was predetermined, and targeted because they knew exactly what case to take, which contained a large portion of my inventory.”
According to Rippamonti, investigators are using every available resource to track down the suspects, including fingerprint and facial recognition technology. Other vendors have also been a helpful resource.
“One thing that we’ve learned with the trading card community is that it’s a very tight-knit group, they all know each other pretty well because they all do shows together, so they’re all on the lookout as well,” Rippamonti said. “Our officers interviewed anyone that was around who might have information, so it’s become very well known throughout the card community that this incident occurred, and they’re all sticking together it seems like and trying to help, which is a great thing.”
— Jay (@cardzzzzz4u) July 8, 2024
While there have been minor incidents at the annual Dallas Card Show involving a missing card here or there, Rippamonti said there has never been a case to this magnitude. He said the police department plans on beefing up security measures to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
On Monday, Jai offered a $70,000 reward for information leading to the return of the case.
Jai shared photos of the inventory allegedly taken with the case, including nearly 20 Willie Mays cards, Honus Wagner cards and a PSA 10 (gem mint) Tom Seaver rookie card priced at $90,000.
“Social media has seen this story upwards of 2 million times,” Jai said in reference to his widely-circulated video. “We have contacted nearly 1,500 local card shops and hope to raise that to 3,500 within a week, notifying them of the reward and informing them of what was stolen along with pictures of the cards.
“It will be very very hard to sell these cards moving forward.”
Required reading
- Mickey Mantle rookie card sells for record-breaking $12.6 million
- Independent audit firm finds Topps cards packaged at random following ‘loaded boxes’ allegations
- Card collecting 101: A primer on everything you need to know to successfully get back into collecting
(Photo: Matt Dirksen / Colorado Rockies / Getty Images)
Mark Puleo is a News Staff Editor at The Athletic. Before joining The Athletic, Mark covered breaking weather news as a digital journalist and front page digital editor with AccuWeather. He is a graduate of Penn State University and its John Curley Center for Sports Journalism. Follow Mark on Twitter @ByMarkPuleo
