The thief will probably get more followers on social media

That is freaking awesome. Great news!!
.

Many thanks, Leon.

Glad to hear this story has a happy ending.

I guess we will find this perp got a hold of the package.

Thankfully, those landmark cards are not lost to the hobby; that would have been a shame.

It figures ML silence had to be related to the investigation - happy they're able to make (nearly) everyone whole again.

Not a bad day for law enforcement in the hobby. This recovery, and the Anthony Curcio fake PSA slab arrest (https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...ver-2-million/).

That's an awesome story, glad to see federal law enforcement focused on protecting the little guy.

o further their alleged fraud scheme, Curcio ordered several items necessary to create forged card cases and labels to pass off the cards as graded, court documents allege.

They included plastic holders, thermal transfer barcode labels, a magnifier loupe optical glass, a handheld inkjet printer, a lock-cutting kit, an electric grinding pen, an abrasive buffer and polishing wheel, an abrasive and bristle brushes and drill bits designed for engraving, prosecutors said.

“Anthony Curcio and Iosif Bondarchuk carried out a brazen, nationwide fraud scheme involving valuable sports and Pokémon trading cards to deceive buyers and marketplaces, ultimately amassing over $2 million in fraudulent and attempted sales,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “Curcio and Bondarchuk allegedly sold and tried to sell at inflated prices cards of various professional athletes, including, among others, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Nolan Ryan, Larry Bird, Julius Erving, and Magic Johnson, as well as various valuable Pokémon cards.

Hmmmm.. I bet it's a lot more than $2 million if it went on for years.

:D

Curious if you still are paying the BP.

That's great news!
That was my biggest concern, that the thief would have dumped the cards when he felt the police closing in.

In a perhaps ironic twist, this isn't Curcio's first runin with the law either.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Curcio

Summarized life of crime story, if the same person:

1. Gambling business gets shut down by local authorities for no permitting
2. Next forges prescription labels (apparently practice for PSA flips)
3. Then Burn Notice-style robs armored truck security guard of $400K in BoA cash (spends 6 years in prison where he pens 20 kids books and a multi-award winning memoir on his addiction and robbery) then makes a business out of inspirational speaking akin to ‘Catch me if you can’
4. Now expands career (age 43) to a $2MM+ sports/Pokemon card PSA holder manipulation scheme

Prediction for his next book: ‘It’s a Hard Knock Life, Steal From Others to Ease the Strife’

Awesome news!! Glad the cards were recovered!

Ans it's all searched racks and cellos, they get an hour off for any hyped rookie they find from each set.

Great job, Strongsville PD!

+1

The thing that stood out in the story to me, was this one sentence: PSA says its Brand Protection division worked with the FBI during the investigation. The focus there has never been about the end user but always about the impact on the brand and doing whatever possible to protect it. They keep details of crimes like this very quiet even after arrests have been made. People cheer someone is going to jail meanwhile, in this case, it is not clear if all of the fake holdered cards were confiscated.

My guess is they've been widely sold into the marketplace by now, and if WIWAG and Copperfield (Mexican fakes) are any indication, the public will never know which cards are involved.

On behalf of all those in the Set Registry, I want to thank PSA for protecting the brand! Well done.

Me thinks that people place way too much trust in some of these protected brands.

Update: https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...overed-arrest/

Besides the glamour shot of the perp, the two still missing cards have now been identified:

PSA 8 1941 Play Ball Ted Williams (PSA Cert #05159693)
https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...2_1_226522.jpg

PSA 5 1909 T204 Ramly Walter Johnson (PSA Cert #90586922)
https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...8_1_223162.jpg

Hope they recover these remaining two, especially the Ramly WaJo.

Those grades are hilarious in comparison to what they'd receive today.

There was a time grading was not tethered to the ultramodern perfect (or altered) card and you didn't need to alter a vintage card to get an 8.

Right now the perp's face is matching his hands after being caught red-handed with the graded card loot.

Brian

I'd be glum too, if I'd just lost my job at a prestigious Best Western Plus.

I'd say today, the Williams might get a NM 7 and the Johnson a 4 VG-EX at best.

Not to beat them up because those are examples of grading at that time but the Williams might be a 6 today and yeah the Johnson is closer to VG and that VG-EX.

Maybe that's what they would get today but they've become way too harsh. They overgraded years ago and now they undergrade so my assessments are right in the middle.

Damn, Darren, I want one of those! But I think you should # to 54, one for each card this assclown stole.

I see that the perp is a young, fat, slovenly white guy...in other words, a typical card show attendee.

Highly intelligent move, asking a friend to hang onto them. Like the police would never think of that.

Ha

Well we only have today and the future and at least to me the future is not defined. I was not supporting the grading standard's today. Simply stating an observation. It might only get more tight from here.

Each time they change their standards you and I should meet here and compare those old grades to the present grades.

A MENSA member wouldn't have stolen from his place of work to begin with.

Well I think you pretty much nailed it, except for the “young” part.

His age is stated as 27 years old...he just looks like he could be in his early 40's.


Brian

Well I guess it depends on perspective. I've been 27 a couple of times, so 27 seems young to me.

They say "he quit":D:D

Bright future ahead for Jacob as a busy Brain Surgeon.

Apparently, Memory Lane likes to "freshen up" the old slabs for their auctions too. I had to leave one of my winning cards behind because they told me they "got a bad batch of slabs". The card looked worse than it did in the scans (of course you know that from experience) as the "baggie" surround looks like it was baked at 1000 degrees and the back of the case had about 50 stress cracks in it as well. Bad batch, LOL. They said they have a standing appointment with PSA and that it will get shipped back to me in a couple of weeks. :D:D:D:D:D:D. irvine is right around the corner. I'm sure it will look much better? :rolleyes::rolleyes::cool:

There is ZERO chance of that happening as Monday is a Holiday, :rolleyes::)

Gulp, I bid on that Ted Williams but did not win. I feel bad for the sellers and the ones trying to buy the cards. That said, they delivered my '52 Topps Mays in a nice wooden case. If I could only get their logo off the case it would be great.

lol

It appears some (all?) of the cert numbers have been deactivated on the PSA registry. Anyone have experience with what may happen next in that regard?

What's your best guess?

If you are referring to the 54 cards that had been stolen and now recovered, I think it would be obvious that PSA would activate the certs again.

Damn it, I wanted to hear his guess first.

Sorry...I really did not. I will yield to you next time, deal?

Anxiously awaiting his #2 post.. .....

This board has a lot of answers...I will give ya that but I see so many posts here with people coming here as their first stop to ask a question to people who might or might not have experience in the particular area. Heck you will get opinions so if that is all you are seeking then, have at it.

I guess I have become way too practical. I want the right answer to my questions and nothing against anyone here but my first stop will be with the person or company who is directly involved.

We have an opinion thread, it's about that kickers speech.. [emoji851]

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This one was sort of common sense 101.

woah, were you all making fun of me there? awesome community. I purchased one of the cards that was stolen and recovered and now deactivated. My only experience with deactivated cards has been ones later deemed as fake. I didn’t realize it was just a switch PSA could turn just back on. Appreciate the intel and glad you have more posts than me, up to 2!

Which card?

I looked but did not touch.

They form their own opinions based on my username. I just sit in my high castle and laugh at the plebes

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They were.

Well, I was aware of net54 for years from a distance and stumbled onto this thread when looking for information about the theft. I kept abreast by reading all 900 posts (many of which felt like old lawyers trying to prove who’s smarter), and frankly found all of the information I needed. Then I go to check the pop on the cards they found, only to annoyingly see them deactivated. I asked a simple (maybe naive to some) question in here and was met by a variety of sarcasm. Obviously I could ask PSA, but I’m also bound to get a faster (and probably as accurate) answer here. All good, enjoy your next 30,000 posts…I’m probably done at 3.

p.s. don’t be so quick to alienate…your family will need people to buy all this stuff when you kick the bucket.

Well said, especially the P.S. part

Question could have been and should have been posed to the auction house prior to your paying for your cards. It would take 4 to 6 weeks for PSA to get back with you.

Sounds like you have purchased fake cards or are at least familiar with that reality in the hobby, it would seem like common sense to resolve the cert issue before you send anyone money.

And I am taking my cards with me.

If people will buy from and defend anything done by convicted fraudsters, they will be happy to buy from my heirs regardless of whether or not they hate me for winning/losing in a chat board scrap 40 years ago. It's fine.

Go ahead then. Alienate away!! :)

What is clearly in very short supply in the hobby are morals, ethics, conviction and a backbone...big wallets are not an issue.

Years deep into that game already my man :D

Don't I know it amigo. :)

The lesson we have learned is that morals and ethics are for the filthy poor plebe trash.

Don't forget single, overweight and white, the card collector demographic. It's self.loathing

Im not racist, I Hate everyone the same

Shit, I'm only one of the three. Got to step my game up.

Could anyone make an appropriate baseball card for this turd? Do I hear an Elf giggling in the bullrushes.

Yeap, that would be a normal hobby lineup.
.

I would argue he's not slovenly, he's rather neatly put together. :)

Darren (JollyElm) came up with a pretty good prototype for a possible card in post # 908.


Brian

Zoomed in :eek:

lol

Doesn't Topps Now have one coming out 1 of 1 PSA 10?

Anyone have the cliff notes version to summarize this thread?

This article covers it pretty well. You'll just miss out on all the arguing and opinions about what was done and what should have been done.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...overed-arrest/

They were valid questions for someone making their first post. There are a lot of scammers that come on here making vague comments in order to get their post count up and build credibility.



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Attachment 622969

• There was a card show in Strongsville, Ohio earlier this year
• There is a Best Western Plus located near the card show venue
• Memory Lane shipped 54 high-value cards via FedEx to that BW+
• A ML employee arrived at the BW+ about 3 days after the cards arrived
• At some point during those 3 days, the cards went missing
• Despite the fact they couldn't locate the cards, ML decided to let the auction run its course, notifying only a minimum of people
• 52 of the 54 cards were recovered roughly a month later
• An employee of BW+ had quit his job shortly after the cards went missing
• That employee has been arrested in connection with the missing cards

This (nearly) 1,000 post thread contains numerous opinions, egos, and insults. It also has some other details. However, the info above is a decent recap.

Well done!

For anyone who won one of the cards that were stolen, were you able to purchase that card? I think only one member has said they won one of the stolen cards.

I do hope the two missing cards show up soon.