Thief steals 250K in Pokémon goods from Minnesota shop

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The owners of a business in Forest Lake said a thief broke into their game shop and stole Pokémon merchandise they estimate was worth $250,000.

The Star Tribune reports the thief avoided the store’s extensive security system Thursday morning by breaking into a vacant business next door and then busting through the wall to enter the gaming store’s storage areas.

Security footage shows the intruder crawling through the hole, noticing the camera and then covering it up with tape, leaving fingerprints in the process. The thief removed two room’s worth of inventory without entering the main store, which would have triggered an alarm.

Twin brothers Eric and Mike Johnson are co-owners of Punch-Out Gaming. Eric Johnson said the thief focused on Pokémon, leaving behind a brand-new X-Box One gaming system as well as their bank cash bag.

Pokémon are a hot commodity these days. The value of some trading cards has skyrocketed, in part due to speculators who buy new cards as soon as they arrive at stores and then resell them online for hundreds of dollars.