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Thief breaks through store’s wall, takes $250,000 in Pokemon merchandise

FOREST LAKE, Minn. — Surveillance video posted by Punch-Out Gaming to Facebook shows a masked man crawling into a store before standing up to tamper with the camera.

Posted by Punch-Out Gaming on Saturday, February 12, 2022

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In a post with a screen grab showing a close-up of the masked thief, the store said, “This guy broke into the neighbor’s store and cut holes through our wall. He took cash and over 200k worth of product.”

Over the course of approximately two hours, the thief emptied two storage rooms that were full of Pokemon products, making off with an estimated $250,000 worth of items, KMSP reported.

“He must have had help because there were a lot of boxes,” Eric Johnson, who owns the store with his brother, told KMSP.

Pokemon cards and other items have been hot commodities recently, with the value of some cards skyrocketing as buyers snatch them up the moment they arrive at stores, the Star-Tribune reported. The store’s owners told the Star-Tribune the thief focused on Pokemon and left behind a new X-Box One gaming system.

“There was a big hole in the wall and all the product was gone, it was shocking,” Johnson told WCCO. “I hope we get it back. I’d rather have that than the insurance money because I can’t find product, and if I have my product back I can continue to have business and the customers coming in and supporting us.”

Johnson told KMSP he is grateful to the online Pokemon community, which has been monitoring online listings for signs of the stolen goods.