ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A staple in the Albuquerque trading card and games community has been hit by a thief, and they’re sharing their story.
“We opened up a little hobby shop down in Old Town, and it started off with me just wanting to sell some board games here in the plaza, and we quickly evolved into a card shop,” said Joe Benitez, owner of Old Town Hobbies & Games.
Alongside selling board games and trading cards for games like “Magic the Gathering” and other dice games, their biggest seller is Pokémon cards.
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“It’s like chasing a stock market with things you can hold,” said Benitez.
Old Town Hobbies & Games has been around for about four years, and in this new location for about six months now. In their entire time of being in business, they have never experienced something like this before.
“I was getting ready for bed. All my notifications went off on my phone that something was happening. I looked in, and I saw a gentleman crawling through our window.”
Benitez said, that on Saturday night, the man climbed onto the roof, jumped into the courtyard, and ripped the rebar off the window before breaking in going for one thing and one thing only.
“He went straight for the Pokémon. He did not touch anything else. He knew where our cases were,” said Benitez “So, it’s roughly $7,000 to $10,000 worth of cards. We’re still cataloging everything to see exactly what was taken.”
To add insult to injury, “He had been to the store. He sold me cards before. I know who it is.”
Benitez is now asking for the stolen cards to be returned.
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“Do the right thing is really what it comes down to for us. He’s essentially taking food from my family at this point, so it hurts.”
Benitez wants to warn other card shops to be vigilant with the Christmas holiday just weeks away. They have reached out to the police, and they are investigating. Anyone with information on this person or the cards stolen is asked to call 505-242-COPS.
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