Within days of opening its doors, a trading card store in Castle Hills was hit by a thief.
The owners were able to cover the merchandise, but the person responsible still hasn’t been caught.
“I see him pull out a stack of cards and put them right into his bag,” The PokeHive store owner, Cole Blancett, said while showing KSAT 12 News surveillance video.
It happened in an instant when Blancett’s back was turned, but the video showed him what he missed.
“Coming back and buying more items and everything else so he could continue to set up his theft,” Blancett said.
Blancett says his brick-and-mortar store was open for just eight days when the person in the video swiped the pack of cards.
“We want this place to be enjoyable, to have this happy, trusting vibe to it. And we just had a harsh reality pretty swiftly into us opening that that may not always be the case,” Blancett said.
The alleged thief stole $500 worth of merchandise from PokeHive in Castle Hills and sold it down the road to another card store, Geeked Out, in Balcones Heights.
Chris Giddens and his Geeked Out co-owner, Paul Lex, recognized the man in the video as someone who had come into their store hours later selling the same product.
Another local store @GeekedOutTx was able to return most of or all of the cards but didn’t know they were purchasing stolen goods. Thankful for their quick response after seeing the video. Hard to buy or sell not knowing where things are coming from! pic.twitter.com/4JuEsHHj4B
— ThePokeHive (@thePokeHive) June 4, 2023
“I feel like we’re like the Crime Stoppers of Antonio because we’ve had countless people come into the shop with just stolen merchandise,” Giddens said.
“You just got to communicate. All stories have to communicate,” Lex said.
It’s not the first time this has happened. Lex says they’ve had at least 10 instances of recovering stolen material and 11 thefts of their own.
“This is our livelihood. Without these products, we lose money for our families,” Lex said.
Blancett says they’re working with Castle Hills PD to catch the person in the video so he doesn’t keep doing this to other stores, but they’re changing their store policies to better protect themselves.
“We’re going to have to start ID’ing and doing other things and having those items on file. So if a store does call us and say, ‘Hey, we had some stolen product,’ I can track that person down,” Blancett said.
CHPD is investigating the theft that happened at The PokeHive. If you recognize the person in the surveillance video, call (210)342-2341.
Here’s the surveillance video from @thePokeHive. If you recognize the man in the Army shirt, give Castle Hills PD a call at (210)342-2341 pic.twitter.com/mu5anNr3IW
— Leigh Waldman (@LeighWaldman) June 8, 2023