Pokemon card thieves who smashed through shop wall to steal $150K in merch charged

A pair of Pokemon card thieves who stole a whopping $150,000 worth of merch have been charged a year later.

In February 2022, two men smashed into Punch Out Gaming in Forest, Lake Minnesota by knocking a hole into the store’s wall from the unoccupied shop next door.

KTSP reports that after cutting their way through the drywall, the thieves managed to access the gaming store through the bathroom and storeroom.

The sneaky heist tactic resulted in no alarms being tripped, leading the duo to steal over 2,800 Pokemon cards and merchandise, hitting the store with nearly a $150K loss. Originally, shop owner Eric Johnson said the cards were valued at $250,000.

Pokemon card thieves charged after $150K heist

According to reports, Washington County court officials are charging 40-year-olds Matthew James Cuypers Jr and Dustin Anthony Wittern with the crimes.

While Wittern stayed in the car outside Punch Out Games, Cuypers broke in to steal the cards, but was spotted on security camera footage.

Cuypers allegedly admitted to working with Wittern to commit the Pokemon card heist during a Miranda interview during a federal investigation for an unrelated crime.

Wittern is said to have had a potential buyer for the cards set up, but interestingly, Cuypers called the heist an “inside job.”

This is just the latest in a long line of Pokemon card crimes in recent memory including a series of robberies and even a case where a man used a bag filled with Pokemon cards as a weapon to murder his neighbor.

Amazingly, this isn’t the most lucrative Pokemon card heist in history. Last year, a collection worth half-a-million dollars was stolen from a 62-year-old man’s waterfront property in South Carolina.