ROSEVILLE, Calif. — Two people were arrested for stealing and then trying to re-sell a collection of Magic: The Gathering cards at a Roseville comics store, the Roseville Police Department said.
Jesse Lee Casey, 41, and Sarah Marie Huber, 35, visited A1-Comics on Sept. 21 with a large collection of Magic: The Gathering cards, according to a press release from the police department. They left the collection at the store for employees to assess and appraise.
As the employees reviewed the cards, they noticed several rare and high-value cards, according to police. The employees found it odd that Casey and Huber had no idea about the value of the cards.
The estimated value of the collection was roughly $1,000, according to Rob Baquera, the department's public information officer.
The store employees contacted their other location in Folsom to find out if anyone reported a collection of Magic: The Gathering cards stolen. The Folsom location said a customer recently reported that his card collection was stolen during a car break-in, according to the police department.
The Roseville store employees then called the person who had reported his cards stolen to talk through some of the specific cards in his collection. The victim was able to describe several specific details about the cards in the collection, police said.
The Roseville Police Department was called and they worked with the store to set up a meeting to stage a pay out for the collection.
Officers parked their patrol cars out of sight from the storefront and waited in the back room of the comics store. When Casey and Huber went back to the store to pick up the money, they were taken into custody by the Roseville Police Department.
"It's excellent work by the store employees who recognized that something seemed out of place," Baquera said. "They were able to connect the dots to determine the cards were stolen and then work to coordinate with police to arrest these suspects."
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Casey and Huber were arrested for possession of stolen property, attempting to sell stolen property, and several other drug-related charges.
"One of the suspects was on searchable probation and their associated vehicle was searched. Drug-related paraphernalia and drugs were found inside the vehicle," Baquera said.
They were booked into Placer County Jail.