Thieves still at large after $5,500 of Pokémon cards and other exclusive card sets stolen in Lakeland, Florida

Decks & Dice Tournament Center in Polk County, Florida was broken into after closing on Wednesday, August 23rd, by one or more offenders that have yet to be found. Co-owner Chad Rippey says the landlord of the building alerted him of the theft on Thursday morning, after the front door was discovered smashed in. Rippey estimates the retail value of stolen items was $5,500, and included Pokémon Crown Zenith premium collections, Obsidian Flames booster boxes, and more.

The theft also included the newly-released Disney Lorcana cards, which are currently only available inside the Disney parks and at select local card shops, and won’t be available online or at major retailers like Walmart until September 1st. These cards are, due to the limited release, extremely valuable on the secondhand market, with individual cards being resold for hundreds of dollars.

Rippey believes the intruders knew what to look for, and targeted valuable cards. “We didn’t know how bad it would be,” he stated. “Obviously, they could have cleaned us out of everything, which would have been devastating.” The loss of so many Pokémon card sets will also affect the shop’s ability to host tournaments in the near future. “I don’t have booster boxes for those tournaments… Probably not gonna be able to do that now,” said Rippey.

No suspects have been named by the Polk County Sheriff's Office, who are currently gathering tips and video evidence. Other local card shops have been alerted to be on the lookout for the stolen merchandise.