Sending collectors’ items through the mail is supposed to be safe, but it seems that one former USPS employee commandeered some of these packages for himself. Shelby Dozier pleaded guilty to theft of mail by a postal service employee, a charge that stemmed from at least 10 incidents that allegedly occurred while he was employed as a sorting clerk at a USPS office in New Jersey.
Between September and December of 2022, Dozier allegedly swiped the contents of at least 10 packages that were mailed to an auction house in Clifton, New Jersey. Per USA Today, these packages included premium items like Michael Jordan and Mickey Mantle trading cards, several dozen graded sports cards and Pokemon cards, as well as signed jerseys, signed photos, and other such memorabilia.
Dozier was suspected by several of his fellow employees when they noticed opened and empty parcels in the men’s locker room. Law enforcement used phone records and Dozier’s own employment attendance records to substantiate their suspicions, and they eventually searched his iCloud account, where they found records of sellers buying the stolen memorabilia from Dozier. Dozier’s plea agreement includes $108,692.92 in restitution to his victims; though he has not been sentenced yet, the charge carries a maximum potential prison sentence of five years.
Trading-card theft has become increasingly common over the past few years, ostensibly because public figures like Logan Paul have boosted the profile of expensive, rare cards, especially in the Pokemon space Come from South African Online Casinos . Back in October of last year, two men were arrested under suspicion of stealing Magic the Gathering and Pokemon cards totaling $150,000 in value from a game store, though a portion were later recovered.