$17K worth of stolen trading cards returned to Portsmouth store; suspect still on the run

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Stolen trading cards worth thousands of dollars are now back on the shelves of a Portsmouth store, and the owner of a competing store in Williamsburg is to credit. But the man who police say is responsible is still on the run with arrest warrants from multiple cities.

We first told you about this in early June. Police said two people broke into Atlantis Games and Comics in Portsmouth in the middle of the night, getting away with $17,000 dollars worth in Magic the Gathering cards. Some are extremely rare, worth thousands of dollars by themselves. Many were printed in limited quantities at around the time this trading card game started in the early 1990’s.

The front door and a glass case inside were smashed out on the day of the robbery. Store owner Steve Matousek said his staff quickly got to work with cleaning up the glass and repairing the store.

“It was a good feeling to know that everybody that works here has my back, I guess you could say,” Matousek said.

They contacted card stores around the region to let them know which cards were stolen. Although they are technically competitors, Matousek describes this as a tight knit community of business owners.

Some time later, a man went to Tap N’ Roll in Williamsburg with the same combination of rare cards, trying to sell them. They recognized the cards as being stolen from the Portsmouth store and discretely contacted police.

A representative with the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office told 10 On Your Side this is when deputies arrived. They identified the man as Garth Miller and found out that he had warrants out of Norfolk for a DUI. When they tried arresting Miller, they tell us he resisted, assaulted an officer and ran away. Now Miller has warrants out of the York-Poquosen area as well.

Those rare cards were left behind at the store in Williamsburg. Their owner brought the cards back to Atlantis in Portsmouth, where they are now back in the recently repaired glass case. Players and collectors familiar with Magic the Gathering may recognize some of these cards, like the “Timetwister”. Price guide websites estimate its value at around $4,000, depending on its condition. Matousek said it is the second Timetwister card he has ever seen come through his store during its 28 years in business. “The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale” and a “Library of Alexandria” card were also stolen at the time. They have since been returned to the store.

The extreme rarity of these particular cards not only make them valuable financially, but Matousek said it makes them a significant part of the history of this trading card game. With so few of them in modern-day circulation, he firmly believes any would-be thieves have almost no way to sell them without getting caught.

“The chance that it’s going to be worthwhile is pretty slim,” Matousek said. “It’s not like you can just go to a pawn shop or something… You’ve got to get someplace that deals in this stuff. We all talk to each other, and if you steal from one of us, we’re going to make sure that everyone knows about it.”

According to court records, Garth Miller has a lengthy criminal history in Norfolk. This includes several driving offences in recent years, and robbery charges from around 2011. A representative from the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office told 10 On Your Side Miller is still considered on the run.

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