LOS ANGELES, CA – A FedEx truck parked near a trading card grading center in Santa Ana was burglarized of sports and Pokémon cards that the company that graded them valued at about $963,000 for two pallets alone, according to the Santa Ana Police Department.
Officers took the report on Tuesday, Oct. 13, in the 1600 block of East St. Andrew Place, police said. The truck was parked near the shipping and receiving address of Professional Sports Authenticator, known as PSA, at 1610 E. St. Andrew Place. Police announced the case Monday, Oct. 19.
Two stolen pallets held about 100 packages each, police said. About 50 packages were also taken from a third pallet.
PSA reported an approximate value of $963,000 for the two full pallets. The value of the packages taken from the third pallet was still being calculated as of Tuesday morning, Oct. 20.
Police spokesperson Natalie Garcia said no one has been arrested and none of the stolen items have been recovered.
Driver left the truck for up to 90 minutes
The FedEx driver left the truck for about an hour to 90 minutes, police said. The lock on the truck was broken while he was away, and the packages were taken during that time.
Police have not described how the packages were removed from the truck. They have also not released a suspect description.
Garcia said in a statement to reporters, “It remains an open case, and we have not made any arrests or recovered any stolen goods.”
Cards had been graded and were headed back to owners
The stolen items were mainly sports cards and Pokémon cards, along with one-of-one pieces, police said. The cards had already been graded and were on their way back to their owners when they were taken.
PSA is a card grading and authentication company. Collectors send it cards from around the country so the cards can be authenticated and assigned a condition grade, which is part of how their value is established.
PSA deactivates certificates for stolen items
PSA said in a statement that it deactivated the certificates tied to the stolen items. The company also said it notified marketplace partners so they can watch for rare and serialized items.
The company said its customer service team has contacted affected customers directly. PSA said it is arranging compensation based on fair market value.
In a letter to affected card owners, PSA said a FedEx vehicle carrying PSA orders was burglarized after leaving its Southern California facility. The letter listed the steps the company is taking, including deactivating the affected serial numbers, notifying selling platforms, helping FedEx and law enforcement with their investigations and reviewing what happened so it can be avoided in the future.
FedEx says it is working with police
FedEx said in a statement, “The security of our customers’ shipments is a top priority, and we are working with local law enforcement in their investigation.”
The company has not released further details about the truck, the route or the shipments it carried.
Collectors report individual losses
Police have not published a count of affected owners or items. A collector who has been tracking reports from owners said that more than 1,000 items had been reported stolen as of Tuesday morning. Those totals come from owners’ own reports and have not been confirmed by police.
One collector said 104 of the cards he had sent in over the past two years were missing. He said he paid $8,000 in grading fees and that the cards were insured for up to $156,000, which he said was less than their market value. Another owner said cards worth $500,000 were among those taken, according to the same tracker.
How the investigation moves forward
Follow-up investigations in Santa Ana are handled by the police department’s Investigations Bureau. Police have not said which unit is assigned to this case.
The city also publishes police incident data from computer-aided dispatch records, and the department posts its uniform crime reporting statistics on a city page. Those pages are general crime data and do not describe this case.
An investigation into a burglary can lead to arrests and charges, but none had been announced in this case. Anyone charged would be presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
Tip line for anyone with information
Anyone with information about the theft is asked to contact the Santa Ana Police Department at 714-245-8665, the number listed on the city’s page for police non-emergency calls.
No arrests, and no goods recovered
The case remains open. As of Tuesday, Oct. 20, Santa Ana police had made no arrests and had recovered none of the stolen cards, and the value of the third pallet’s packages was still being calculated.
