These cards can add up to big bucks for the thieves and big losses for the businesses at a crucial time of year.
The Crazy Squirrel Game Store has been hit three times this week by thieves. The owners say the suspects were after trading cards used in the popular role-playing game: The Magic. Now they're hoping to catch these brazen thieves.
Video captured by the store's security camera video shows one of the men suspected of breaking into game stores and stealing cards used in Magic: The Gathering. In at least one of the crimes, the crooks broke the window in the front of the building, ran in and snatched dozens of the cards which can go for hundreds of dollars a piece.
In addition to the cost of the cards, the businesses say they've spent thousands repairing the damage to their buildings.
But Crazy Squirrel isn't the only business that's been hit by thieves. The owners believe the thieves may be involved in other game store robberies in Fresno and Merced.
"We definitely keep a closer eye on people, like I hate to not trust people, but three times in a week is ridiculous. It's got to be fixed. We're trying to be really communicative with the other stores so that we can give all the information to the police that we can, and we have a detective assigned to it now and we're hoping for the best outcome," said Jennifer Ward, Crazy Squirrel Game Store.
The owners of Crazy Squirrel game say they have taken efforts to revamp security. They say the gaming community is also keeping an eye out for any unusual behavior.
Ward says the burglaries couldn't come at a worse time of year. This is one of the few times the small business turns a profit, and now the thefts have cut into their pockets.
The store owner said the thieves stole cards that were estimated at $10 to $15 each, but they stole so many of them that they amounted to about $7-thousand.
Magic the Gathering cards has been out for 20 years and comes in different varieties, which makes the collectible card item valuable.
If you have any information you are asked to call local law enforcement.
