The Victim is the Beat Officer who had to come up and take this report from Gizmo.

Regarding a heck-ton of cards being held/going table to table....Did anyone see the guy walking around with the Johnny Bench jersey? With all the bench autos bench rookie and crazy double PAGES of key topps cards from 57-72. He had like 25 1969 rose's Aaron's, bench ..mays EACH 58 mantles mays etc. I was in awe and I didn't even speak to him.

He was trying to sell and just wasnt connecting with the speed of the dealer...i was watching in awe amd big eyes like a Tom amd Jerry cartoon...

Maybe he is on here..if so, sir I have never been so impressed with a binder of cards in my LIIFFEE.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

Let's parse this to see if it makes any sense...

"I trusted him because his bag was in the booth."

This implies Giddings thinks the bag of money was sufficient security for the $80,000 (or whatever) of cards.

We had no idea how much money was in the bag; it’s not my job to do that.

This says Giddings had no idea whether or not the bag of money was adequate collateral for the cards.

Contradictory statements back to back, it seems to me.

Furthermore, if the bag of money had $100k in it, and the cards were priced something less than that, why not just use some of the money from the box and complete the transaction?

I stand corrected, great point. That poor officer.

I think I’ve only bought from Gizmo AKA ‘Homey the butt clown’ once. He might be an idiot, but no thief would try and steal in such an absurd manner.

Boy has SCD has gone downhill, publishing this with a supportive article reporting his feelings and asking no questions at all.

Kind of speaks volumes, no?

How many buyers would offer a seller a bag of cash to safeguard while they looked at the seller's cards? That should be a red flag right there. And how many sellers would even think of accepting a bag purported to hold 100K in cash? The only truth, it seems, in the story is that Giddings was at the National.

My wish for the day is that Giddings (and 3 of his alternate ids) come on here and posts like the purple sticker guy did when he claimed he was stolen from.

This is exactly how I shop for cards. I take a look at the cases at the show, if one looks promising I catch the dealers attention. I take off my designer sunglasses for dramatic effect, ask him to hold my duffel bag, tell him it has 100 racks in two carefully marked boxes with 50fat ones in each, and then make my selections. The bag gets a bit heavy after awhile, so it’s nice that the dealers will hold it for me while I go through their inventory and then just leave for several hours. I like to keep some extra rubber bands on me too, I had one of my stacks snap when I was buying a Mint+ Carney Lunsford card once and it was a little embarrassing.

Cards were reportedly smuggled out of Atlantic City in white house subs.


QUOTE=Lorewalker;2249659]How many buyers would offer a seller a bag of cash to safeguard while they looked at the seller's cards? That should be a red flag right there. And how many sellers would even think of accepting a bag purported to hold 100K in cash? The only truth, it seems, in the story is that Giddings was at the National.

My wish for the day is that Giddings (and 3 of his alternate ids) come on here and posts like the purple sticker guy did when he claimed he was stolen from.[/QUOTE]

Now we know the story is BS. There's no room to put anything extra in a White House sub!

If someone asked me to hold on to their $100k, I would have told him no. How do I know he might come back later and say 50k was missing? Dickie is trying to scam once again.

I am trying to rationalize this looking at it from the dealer side. The only thing I can come up is dealer trust on steroids between the dealer and buyer.....and that is even a stretch when you are talking about cash in boxes, etc.

Sounds like this is going to turn into a he/he said he/he said story. Ohio guy can claim a deal was done and the other guy stole the $86k out of the bag...things that make you go hmmmmm.

They get elected to Congress...

Went down some fun rabbit holes reading up on past "incidents" with the dealer involved in this "theft" case! On a side note, learned that Rich Klein wasn't the originator of Secret Santa...thank you sir for taking that over. Thinking of making it out to my first national next year. This is a good reminder to keep one's situation awareness up when it comes to who your dealing with.

I checked out those other two threads that were mentioned in this thread.
Some pretty wild stuff, but some often amusing stuff.

Not sure if this has been said already or not, but taken right from the article:

"Rick Giddings of Gizmo’s Sportscards of Davis Junction, Ill. reported the alleged theft to Atlantic City police on the final day of The National at the Atlantic City Convention Center.

According to Giddings, who is on the board of directors of The National, the incident occurred between 4 and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 30."


So it happened on Saturday, but he doesn't report it until Sunday.

I know after I'm robbed I like to get a good nights sleep before reporting it a day later.

"DOH!!!!!"

& the $80K loss, was that his cost or his jacked up prices?
I'm sure there's a big difference

In the article, it says that the person who took the cards texted him and said he would see him in the morning, so he apparently decided to wait to see if he showed up, and when he didn't, he called the police. Probably not the best decision, but also probably not the most questionable part of the overall story.

Uh, by the time you open the bag and realize you’ve been taken for a ride … isn’t that a decent time to call the police?

Right. Apparently, this happened before 6:00 pm Saturday, yet he waited until Sunday, when the accused thief was no longer in AC:

"Giddings said the dealer texted him at about 5:40 p.m. and said, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

At that point, Giddings said he started to get suspicious.

“Anybody who has got that type of money, or says he does, would you leave that in a booth? … So I’m scared,” he said.

At that point, Giddings said he opened the bag and found two boxes marked “$50,000.” The two boxes, however, contained only $500 each in $1 bills, he said.

“I guess he wanted me to feel warm because I trusted that he had the money there and thought, ‘He’s not going to run if he’s got that kind of money.’ But he did,” Giddings said. “It was terrible.”

When the dealer did not show up the following morning, Giddings contacted the Atlantic City Police Department, which is now investigating the alleged theft."

The two boxes, however, contained only $500 each in $1 bills, he said.

With the easy this guy seemed to pull off this scam he could of just used Monopoly money as collateral and saved his $1000.

I was thinking the same thing, or at least use what police call a "dummy roll" (a $100 wrapped around 99 singles).

This story is so unbelievably asinine.

And before you call the FBI you would need some proof that the cards left the state of NJ. Nothing in the story says the cards left. Only that guy who allegedly was given permission to take the cards has left the state. And he was not the last person seen take possession of the cards. This is only episode one of a long soap opéra. Lol I am on my way to store to get more popcorn.

Good one :)

Theft at National AC
 

Once he let the guy walk away with the cards it was a done deal. No one can prove how much cash was in the bag. Exchange bag of cash for cards...guy walks away with cards...Guy hangs around for an hour chatting...He's going to say they had a deal and he paid for the cards.

Right. Furthermore, nobody can say what the cards were worth.

I thought the alleged thief texted Giddings he would see him in the morning in response to Giddings' text to the effect of WTF is going on. That doesn't sound like someone claiming the deal was done.

The National
 

[QUOTE=NYYFan63;2249391]So it’s not his job to count the money? Strange…

This is hilarious - so find the guy whose job it is to count the money and fire or sue him!

Be interesting if Dick Giddings was arrested for filing a false police report.

The Net54 rabbit holes suck sometimes. It's like there's 5? minutes of my life gone but, damn, that was entertaining again!
.

Just curious. How many FBI agents were at the show? I know. They are supposed to blend in with the crowd. Also, how many arrests were made?

This whole thing sounds like a pitch for an SNL skit: Two giant bags of dicks meet at a card show...

Any update on this story?

With all the cameras at the National, I would have thought something would have came out.

cameras at the National?? Really? I see many people take pics of cards but no cameras monitor the show floor.

Pretty elaborate hoax/theft for only $80K....

It might be worse if it's actually legitimate.


(as others have said in so many words)

Here, I don't know you that well but let me give you 85k in cards to give to someone else I have no idea about. And in about an hour I will start to get concerned = 85k lesson... bag or no bag
.

Charges filed

https://sportscollectorsdigest.com/n...-atlantic-city

Some timing?

Holy F---, a former student of mine:(

The charges will be quietly dropped as Gizmos story falls apart, or this will be the funniest card trial in hobby history.

You can file charges against a chicken sandwich! Has he, the alleged suspect been charged via summons or arrest warrant/indictment? According to the article, it looks like AC PD requested he returns to AC to answer questions and make a statement. Seems like the AC County Prosecutor declined to make this an extraditable offense.

With sprinkles, of course.

I fully expect the former, but I pray for the latter :)

This would the start of a good Soap Opera or Reality Show on the World of Baseball Collecting and all the dangerous pitfalls.

If it was a reality show we would ban all Karkrapians, Chrisley's, Jersey Shore folks, Married at First Sight and all of the other pathetic clowns that appear on those and similar 'reality' shows. No, I don't watch any of them. Unfortunately, when I am on the treadmill late at night watching re-runs of Castle, FBI, NCIS or the such, I am bombarded with ads for all those and others.

I am so flying out for the trial. Getting there days in advance so I can get front row. Just saying in advance I will be charged with contempt of court for uncontrollable laughing during Gizmo's testimony.

I just read it over

Zero sense to know you got $1000 and then wait the next day? What the guy gave you $1000 by mistake instead of 100k?

Going to be hard to prove anything without receipts...dont know what cards taken dont know how much money taken. The dealer is the 'professional' in this and a greater duty on him. Would be interesting to see if 100k in cash was regularly reported on prior tax returns as well

I didn’t fly out for the national. But I will fly first class to attend this show. This has the potential to be a comedic goldmine

Exactly. I will clear my calendar. Find the finest hotel. Business class all the way. Dinner is on me.

Are full, official transcripts publicly available? It would be a blast to have it posted here.

Defense Attorney: Didn't you count the money?
Plaintiff: It wasn't my job.

No way in hell this is going to trial...

It won’t, but let us dream.

If this is the same Gizmo that sells trimmed cards then oh well. He deserves it for ripping so many people off.

Because you have to be a thief on a whole nother level to be on the board.

Update as Posted on Sports Collectors Digest Web Page
 

Article was posted above a few days ago when it hit.

Gizmo did an interview on youtube yesterday.

In the YouTube video the key takeaways I got were that he had done business with this person before and considered this person a "friend", had 2 witnesses for key parts of the exchange and would "...pursue this to the end", whatever that means.

New YouTube video interview with Rick Giddings.

Interview link

https://youtu.be/nc03BTv0vDk

Yeah that was awful. Gizmo comes off as every collectors' worst nightmare of the typical card dealer. It was hard for me to focus on the "story" because I was mesmerized by his persona. Might take a bit to purge that. Gotta run now and start trying.

If I was the victim of an $80,000 crime, and the case/investigation was still ongoing, I would only be discussing the situation with legal counsel and law enforcement. Period.

I certainly wouldn't be providing an interview to some random content creator whose name I couldn't remember.

Does anyone know Porter? According to Gizmo the clown he’s active in the hobby, spends a lot, and has a criminal record. This 30 minute version of his story still doesn’t make any sense as having plausibly actually happened.

I was just thinking, those boxes of cash could possibly (I don't know because I haven't seen them) said: $500.00 instead of $50000, if there was a very faint, almost invisible, decimal point there. So that could be a piece of the guy's defense.

Not a lawyer, but I'd think that would be important in knocking down the accusation of fraud. Unless The Giz has witnesses to him claiming it was $100,000 total in those boxes.

I heard Gizmo got Jackie Chiles.

"Your face is my case"

;):)

if a witness to the 500 cash in ones..its pretty odd to give someone 500 1 dollar bills..

Don't know him now, but he was raised chasing and enjoying autographs with his father. The whole family is extremely sports-oriented and good, good people. I know he has a record due to an unfortunate incident that had nothing to do with collectibles or theft or in any way would relate to this situation.

Obviously you and I go to different night clubs. :)

Gizmo’s story is so absurd that it can’t be true (it’s possible there was a theft but not like this). I hope, guilty of some sort of theft or innocent, this man knows his name is getting very publicly trashed. This whole situation just screams to hear from the other side.

Well....the cops asked him to come to NJ to give a statement. He refused. I am sorry, that just reeks of scum-baggery. Gizmo may be an ass but so far, his side is the one that is believable. This buyer stole from him.

Theft
 

I could only make it through about 10 minutes of the interview...ugh. It reminds me of my children when they have waaaaaay too many unnecessary specifics of a story they made up. Not saying some of it isn't true, but simple is better in situations like this I would think.

The most damning thing I heard is he said he would see him in the morning via text. He never showed up. That's strong for RGs story if he has that.

OR a guy who doesn't have time to travel half-way across the country on his own dime for what he sees as no reason. It's too easy for people to spin their own narratives when there are many more possibilities than the one they think of.

Why would he travel back to New Jersey on his dime to give a formal statement he doesn’t have to give? Would you? Guilty until proven innocent is not reasonable.

Gizmo the clown’s story sounds believable to you? I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.

The story was truly unbelievable. With the accused allegedly even refusing to answer to NJ police it suggests that there was a theft.

It is easy to tell that Gizmo over valued the theft and went conveniently with the high book value. Pics I saw of his cards did not show them to be in high grade and the prices I saw on them were beyond absurd.

He came off as an atrocious salesperson in that video. Some melodrama too. Told a horrible version of the story to boot, leaving out details and telling things out of order. Not a good look.

At least 2 times he mentioned that the guy had offered him 26K or something and he played the "I paid way more than that for those 29 cards". Bet at 26K he triples up. He strikes me as the guy who would take advantage of an unsuspecting family who inherited a collection and then boast about it to his pals. I do not know him so I should not judge but that is my impression.

If you are taking cards "worth" that much to shows and you are seasoned veteran seller, why no insurance?

He did not explain why he took the guy's bag to hold onto. Nor what he understood was in the bag at the time he took it.

I suspect there was a theft. Do not condone taking something which is not yours however if Gizmo did business with him 7 times prior, if the guy made off with 26K worth of cards I would say Gizmo still owes the dude at least 26K more for jacking him in the 7 previous meetings where the guy was paying PSA 8 prices for VG-EX material.

Still maintain he makes a bad witness but a great one for entertainment value. Still flying out if there is a trial. Would not miss it for anything.

I have no opinion on if there was or was not a theft as we have only an accusation and no evidence. But Gizmo’s story makes no sense whatsoever. He may have been robbed, but his story cannot be the whole truth.

Could it be a work (like pre-determined in wrestling) between these two guys ?

Whatt???? Wrestling is fake??

Oh well, I still have roller derby!

Mike

Personally, I have a hard time believing that anyone would go to the trouble of filing a false police report against a specific person unless there was something to it. Never mind that a false report is a crime and subjects you to slam dunk liability for defamation, it is also work. If the dealer was trying to pull an insurance scam, better to claim an unexplained disappearance at the show than to hit a specific person who can fight it. Doesn't mean the cards are worth what the dealer claims, but it does sound like more to me than an outright scam. Let's see where the case goes. If the defendant chooses to appear and/or is extradited and then appears, we will hear the other side.

I wouldn't surprise me if this ends with some items being returned and it being dropped. I've had a few of those in my practice. The DA has better things to do than pursue a case where the items are returned.

There is some vague reference to texts being exchanged but Gizmo did not elaborate, for whatever reason. He did allude to the fact that he texted the alleged thief telling him he wants his cards back or the money and claims he was told that the guy would be returning Sun AM. Those texts might be the best evidence he has at proving he is owed something.

Did not think the "51 Bowman Mantle Ice Cream Line" theft tale could ever be topped but Gizmo's story almost makes 25% of the 51 Mantle story sound legit. And the 25% I am speaking to is that ice cream does exist. There was ice cream at the National that year. Mantle does have a 51 Bowman card, that is both his rookie card and a card that was not double printed. :eek: And that people attended the National. The rest is highly suspect.