Massive theft at Dallas card show, Nearly 2 Million Dollars worth of cards stolen

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by Kutcher55

Well the thieves have yet to turn on each other, which is more than I can say for the participants in this thread nyuk nyuk nyuk.

People turning on each other is the new American way! (and no joking - it's been disallowed)

[Shoeless Moe]

THIEVES CAUGHT!!!! would be great, but still nothing.

[Yoda]

Perhaps this has been discussed before but this heist was well-planned, and I can't help but wonder if it was funded and organized by some rich collector with no desire to sell the cards but to gaze on his ill-gotten bonanza until he croaks.
If so the police need a break in the case, or I fear we may never see these jewels again.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Yoda

Perhaps this has been discussed before but this heist was well-planned, and I can't help but wonder if it was funded and organized by some rich collector with no desire to sell the cards but to gaze on his ill-gotten bonanza until he croaks.
If so the police need a break in the case, or I fear we may never see these jewels again.

I mentioned this previously, but this theory seems a bit far-fetched to me.

My first reason being that any rich collector would rather just buy these cards, rather than attempt to rip them off. Why would some rich collector risk serious jail time and potentially losing everything simply to pick up some additional cards on the cheap? Certainly the perps would roll over pretty quick if they were caught, and the mastermind ordering the hit would definitely go down with that ship.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, while this is certainly a valuable stack of cards, it would seem to be an odd grouping for a single rich collector to want all of them for their own collection. For example, there are a fistful of low to mid-grade 311 Mantles here. While most of us love a good 311 Mantle, my experience is that a rich collector would be more inclined to pick up a high grade copy, and even then, just one, rather than a fistful. Similar concepts come into play for the rest of the pieces here. While they're definitely valuable cards, they don't seem like the kind of pieces that your average rich collector is dying to add to their collection, just to have and hold for a few decades. Among other things, it strikes me that your rich collector, unless they're newer to the hobby, probably already has a lot of these pieces.

Now if the theft included about a bunch of impossible to find pieces, or really high for the grade pieces, then I would agree with you all day every day and twice on Sunday. But as great as this stuff is, it just doesn't scream to me that this is a theft that was made to order by some fat cat collector.

[jingram058]

I agree with raulus.

Also:

How does Perp 1, who looks like the leader, walk around a card show with what appears to be a shoulder holster?

Do the cards depicted appear to be realistically priced with those colored price labels?

The whole thing appears to look bizarre as time goes by.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by jingram058

How does Perp 1, who looks like the leader, walk around a card show with what appears to be a shoulder holster?

Forget it, James, it's Texas.

[Peter_Spaeth]

You can now buy ammo in vending machines in Texas. Convenient for sure.

https://www.tpr.org/public-health/20...-grocery-store

[refz]

Originally Posted by jingram058

I agree with raulus.

Also:

How does Perp 1, who looks like the leader, walk around a card show with what appears to be a shoulder holster?

Do the cards depicted appear to be realistically priced with those colored price labels?

The whole thing appears to look bizarre as time goes by.

In my opinion, the cards are priced above the norm to ready to retire on.. it’s not just him though, a lot of dealers at the big shows shoot for the moon.

[Tyruscobb]

Originally Posted by jingram058

I agree with raulus.

Also:

How does Perp 1, who looks like the leader, walk around a card show with what appears to be a shoulder holster?

There are 45 states (90% of all states), including Texas, that have open carry laws. Unless the venue prohibited it, carrying a firearm was permissible.

[G1911]

That is not a shoulder holster for a gun and does not look close to one at all. This theft has absolutely nothing to do with carrying guns.

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by raulus

I mentioned this previously, but this theory seems a bit far-fetched to me.

My first reason being that any rich collector would rather just buy these cards, rather than attempt to rip them off. Why would some rich collector risk serious jail time and potentially losing everything simply to pick up some additional cards on the cheap? Certainly the perps would roll over pretty quick if they were caught, and the mastermind ordering the hit would definitely go down with that ship.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, while this is certainly a valuable stack of cards, it would seem to be an odd grouping for a single rich collector to want all of them for their own collection. For example, there are a fistful of low to mid-grade 311 Mantles here. While most of us love a good 311 Mantle, my experience is that a rich collector would be more inclined to pick up a high grade copy, and even then, just one, rather than a fistful. Similar concepts come into play for the rest of the pieces here. While they're definitely valuable cards, they don't seem like the kind of pieces that your average rich collector is dying to add to their collection, just to have and hold for a few decades. Among other things, it strikes me that your rich collector, unless they're newer to the hobby, probably already has a lot of these pieces.

Now if the theft included about a bunch of impossible to find pieces, or really high for the grade pieces, then I would agree with you all day every day and twice on Sunday. But as great as this stuff is, it just doesn't scream to me that this is a theft that was made to order by some fat cat collector.

Nico, I think you are right on all the points mentioned. He would most likely have some the cards displayed in Ash's inventory in higher grade.

I only wonder where the police start in solving this heinous crime. Trying to get a positive id on one or all the perps, I suppose.

[mightyq]

I think this get's solved depending on how much the police care. On a scale of 1-10 i say a 4.

[nwobhm]

Originally Posted by mightyq

I think this get's solved depending on how much the police care. On a scale of 1-10 i say a 4.

1) Murder
2) Rape
3) Armed Robbery
4) Aggravated Assault/Battery
5) Kidnapping
6) Drug Trafficking
7) Terrorism
8) Treason
9) Arson
10) DWI
…
…
…
100) $1,000,000+ baseball cards left unattended.

To each his own but that theft wouldn’t be on my radar. If information came forward I would certainly investigate…. Beyond that, file a claim with your insurance carrier.

[gregndodgers]

Originally Posted by mightyq

I think this get's solved depending on how much the police care. On a scale of 1-10 i say a 4.

I agree. Had this been murder, the perps are probably in jail by now.

Ever check out the show called, "See No Evil." There are hundreds of murder investigations in that series where perps are caught simply using video. Great show!

If FBI and LE are doing their job, they know what the perps were doing in Dallas that day. Now, if they are from out of town or from places far away, this could get tougher. Locals will almost always get caught within a short few days because someone can ID them using photos, so the fact that there has been no arrest (that we know of) tends to show that these perps were not from that area.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Yoda

I only wonder where the police start in solving this heinous crime. Trying to get a positive id on one or all the perps, I suppose.

I'm not a criminal justice expert, so I can only surmise based on wild guesses and my zero background knowledge of how these investigations work.

But it does seem like identifying the goons based on the video would be a key step. With any luck, they have other security footage from elsewhere in the venue showing other angles, and maybe with a little better resolution. The only trouble, of course, is that unless these goons are already known to the authorities, about their only hope is some sort of a database, or else someone from the public identifying them.

If that doesn't pan out, then it seems like it's a waiting game. Waiting for someone to notice one of these cards somewhere. Or for one of the goons to try to sell a big chunk of them at a venue that recognizes these cards.

Seems like one other potential is hoping the goons get greedy and turn on each other because they can't agree on an equitable allocation of their ill-gotten gains. Or some jilted lover who turns them in. Seems like that's how most of the accounting frauds get caught.

[judsonhamlin]

Originally Posted by raulus

I'm not a criminal justice expert, so I can only surmise based on wild guesses and my zero background knowledge of how these investigations work.

But it does seem like identifying the goons based on the video would be a key step. With any luck, they have other security footage from elsewhere in the venue showing other angles, and maybe with a little better resolution. The only trouble, of course, is that unless these goons are already known to the authorities, about their only hope is some sort of a database, or else someone from the public identifying them.

If that doesn't pan out, then it seems like it's a waiting game. Waiting for someone to notice one of these cards somewhere. Or for one of the goons to try to sell a big chunk of them at a venue that recognizes these cards.

Seems like one other potential is hoping the goons get greedy and turn on each other because they can't agree on an equitable allocation of their ill-gotten gains. Or some jilted lover who turns them in. Seems like that's how most of the accounting frauds get caught.

These investigations take time. Time to gather all the facts to write an affidavit in support of any search warrants for geofence and/or cell phone data, time to get the warrants approved by a prosecutor, time to get them to a judge who has to read and approve them, time to serve the internet and phone carriers who own and service the nearest cell towers and have them respond and then try to sift through the data to exclude everyone else’s phone records. You know, all that pesky 4th Amendment stuff.
Facial recognition is not all that and unlimited breadsticks- there have been numerous and legitimate false arrest lawsuits where an arrest was based solely on facial identification.
Have some faith in and patience with the local law enforcement departments working this.
And the whole ‘flee to Mexico’ thing is a chimera. The cards are more likely to be, say, in Texas or Illinois or Kentucky as anywhere else. Rumor even has it that there are Latino citizens and residents in all 50 states, so…

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by Shoeless Moe

THIEVES CAUGHT!!!! would be great, but still nothing.

The images are clear enough for law enforcement to figure out who the individuals are, unless these are people who dropped down from outer space to commit this heist. Someone will identify one of them and the dominos will fall, assuming law enforcement is remotely competent. In addition, as far as we know, they may have already been identified and have been contacted by an officer.

[Johnny630]

The squeeze will be on...someone will rat...the thieves will be up shits creek soon enough without a paddle.

[steve B]

As far as the speed of the potential recovery.

Maybe as long as 10-40 years.

https://www.linns.com/news/us-stamps...use-cover.html

Things have improved as far as technology goes, so maybe a bit faster. But if they don't mess up it could be a long time.