California thieves steal US$15,000 in Pokémon cards in 39-second smash-and-grab raid

Three masked thieves stole approximately US$15,000 worth of Pokémon trading cards from a specialty collectibles store in Brentwood, California, in a smash-and-grab burglary that police said took just 39 seconds to carry out, according to authorities and local media reports.

The theft took place on Saturday night at The Card Lab, a trading card and collectibles store that opened two months ago. Surveillance footage captured the suspects, all dressed in black, breaking into the premises, jumping over display counters and stuffing valuable cards into large plastic garbage bags before fleeing the scene.

Police said the suspects later drove away in a Nissan Altima and remain at large.

Surveillance footage captures rapid burglary

According to the Brentwood Police Department, cited by ABC7, the three suspects smashed through a glass display case containing high-value Pokémon cards and rapidly cleared boxes of merchandise from the store.

Footage showed the burglars moving through the shop in a coordinated manner, hopping over counters and collecting large quantities of trading cards before leaving in under a minute.

The theft is estimated to have involved around US$15,000 worth of Pokémon cards and collectibles.

Store owner relieved employee was unharmed

The Card Lab owner Ronnie Hackett said his immediate concern after learning of the burglary was the safety of a staff member who had been inside the building at the time.

"My first thought was 'I hope that my employee was OK,' and I was relieved to see that she was. And then I also just kind of wanted to see what the damage was, what damage was done," Hackett said.

He added: "I'm relieved that she was not downstairs because that could have been way worse. But she was upstairs doing our end of the day protocol."

Hackett said the store had recently been closed while additional security measures were being implemented, a circumstance that may have been exploited by the burglars.

Similar theft reported in New Jersey

The California burglary follows a similar incident reported last week in Rochelle Park, New Jersey, where masked thieves targeted Big Pack Hobby Shop.

According to police, the suspects smashed through the shop's glass door and stole between $40,000 and $50,000 worth of trading cards and merchandise.

That burglary was also captured on surveillance cameras and was completed in less than two minutes, authorities said.

The incidents come amid reports of increasing thefts targeting Pokémon trading cards and other high-value collectibles at hobby and card stores across the United States.