Inside Carlos Nazario’s trading card store in north Houston, visitors take a nostalgic walk through Pokémon history.
“That’s the original booster box from 1999,” Nazario points out.
Nazario collects, buys, and sells Pokémon cards, amassing thousands from different eras. Once a childhood dream, his hobby has now turned into a profitable business.
“This one here is probably worth between $10,000 and $12,000,” he says, indicating a specific card.
But with the growing awareness of the value of these collectibles, Nazario says he has to be vigilant.
“People steal things all the time. Unfortunately, it seems to be happening more often at events,” he notes.
This is exactly what happened to him over the weekend at the George R. Brown Convention Center. While working as a vendor at Collect-A-Con, he realized a rare Japanese-exclusive Pokémon card valued at nearly $4,000 had been stolen.
“I got distracted talking to people, and during that time, someone took advantage and lifted the card from my booth,” he recalls.
Nazario immediately reported the theft to the police and shared a photo of the stolen card on a local Pokémon card Facebook group to alert others.
Shortly after, a store owner in Pearland called him, saying the same man had come in trying to sell that very card.
“The store owner told me, ‘The guy just walked in with the card and some Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. We’ve already notified authorities, and they’re on their way,’” Nazario explains.
The man reportedly fled when he saw officers, but the store owner managed to capture a photo of his license plate and had video footage.
After discussing the incident with others in the industry, Nazario suspects this isn’t the man’s first time stealing valuable cards and worries it could happen again.
“My hope is we can catch him. It’s clear he’s done this before, and he’ll likely try it again,” Nazario says.
