$19,000 worth of Pokemon cards reported stolen from Maryland game store

Brendan Nordstrom, The Baltimore Sun on Sep 12, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

BALTIMORE — Storm Crow Games, a game store in Eldersburg, was filled with people for a weekly event for the game Magic: The Gathering last Saturday, when two men successfully walked away with thousands of dollars’ worth of Pokémon cards.

The theft occurred at the store on Liberty Road just after 6:30 p.m., owners Tyler and Sam Clark told The Baltimore Sun. While Maryland State Police valued the theft of three binders of Pokémon cards at $19,000, the Clarks said it could be as much as $25,000.

“The stuff that he took essentially was our savings, in a way, or a way to save for retirement,” Tyler said.

Maryland State Police said they are still working to identify the suspects.

The theft is one of several in the area, with stores in Howard, Harford and Baltimore County reporting similar thefts. Maryland State Police said they’re investigating whether the theft at Storm Crow Games is related.

The Clarks said the two suspects entered the store and pretended to be players in the event, Tyler said. When they were directed to the back of the store to sign in with a QR code, one of the suspects snuck into a back office to fill his backpack with the cards, while the other blocked the back hallway and kept watch, Tyler said.

The two, still pretending to be players, then went up to the front and disputed the price of the event before running out of the store, Tyler said. He estimated the whole theft might have taken only two minutes.

“The actual job of going into the office and getting out with the product was maybe like two minutes,” Tyler said. “It was relatively quick.”

The Clarks said they usually don’t have items of high value in the office and only did this time because of a Pokémon trade day on Sunday. People told the Clarks they recognized the two suspects as being in the store the previous week.

“They knew, I guess, based on casing us the previous week and knowing what our event calendar looked like, that stuff was going to be back there,” Tyler said.

The Clarks explained Pokémon cards serve as a “mini stock market.” With some cards more scarce than others, the value goes up and down. Tyler said the value has especially gone up since last November. One of the cards in the stolen binder, for example, is worth $800. They added Pokémon cards are two-thirds of the business at the store.

“I almost would have preferred they had just taken, like, five Xboxes or something like that, because that would have been significantly less value,” Tyler said.

A number of other game stores in the region have reported similar thefts.

The Howard County Police Department said two suspects entered Gamers-Corps and Time Warp Game Shop in Ellicott City and stole Pokémon video games the same Saturday, around 5:50 p.m. Police said the two thefts could be related, given the time of both incidents, but it is still under investigation.

Simms Sports Cards in Bel Air also reported a theft of Pokémon cards in a social media post, while Blue Ditto Cards and Collectibles in Reisterstown posted about a robbery in early August.

“I’m really hoping that they just catch them, and then these other businesses can get their justice as well too,” Tyler said. “It’s hard enough doing this stuff as a small business.”

As more time passes, the Clarks said there are more chances for the suspects to offload the cards.

“Getting our stuff back is getting harder and harder each day,” Tyler said.

The Clarks added that they plan to heighten their security moving forward.

“I’m just hoping now, with enough people, everybody can scream loud enough that hopefully something happens to them, they slip up at some point, or somebody knows who they are,” Tyler said.

----------