LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Workers at Maximum Comics in the Northwest Valley have been cleaning up after a break-in overnight on Saturday.
This was the second time in just three weeks the business was targeted after its storage facility nearby was also hit.
LVMPD Sheriff Kevin McMahill says he was told by major chains that retail theft in Southern Nevada is worse than in the San Francisco Bay Area. The owner of the heavily damaged comic book shop says the trend has him trapped in a cycle of retail crime.
“The whole front door was completely shattered and there was glass all over the place,” Maximum Comics owner Brandon Dold remembered. “Our card cases that keep all of our trading card products were all shattered. Our computers were thrown on the floor. Our cash drawers were missing. A bunch of inventory was missing. The entire store, pretty much the whole front half of it, was covered in broken glass everywhere.”
While cleaning up the mess left by the break-in, Dold is also taking inventory of what was stolen.
“They specifically targeted a few Pokemon cards that were high-value, as well as a graded Pokemon game that was high-value,” he said. “So much of our card inventory was damaged because it was full of broken glass that we inadvertently also lost that too.”
It’s the latest in a troubling trend outlined by LVMPD, and also a pattern of collectible stores being targeted.
“We’re super upset about it,” Dold said. “It’s hard not to feel a bit angry and targeted at this point too.”
A Las Vegas LEGO store was broken into three times in its first year of being open and has since had to lock away some of its products. Dold says he’s heard of a few other comic book stores around the area that have also been hit this month.
“They clearly know what they’re doing,” he said of the thieves. “So it’s really sad that somebody else that I know and am friends with may also be standing exactly where I am right now in a week or two, dealing with the exact same problem.”
To this end, Metro Police has a retail theft task force aimed at stopping crimes like this one.
While police work on stopping those crimes, Dold is taking actions he says he never thought he’d have to do.
“It’s really sad that we even have to do this, but we’re getting iron bars on the doors and doing everything we can, which is not something that we should even have to do in this community,” he said. “But apparently, we do.”
The store was closed Monday, but will be open tomorrow for its normal hours. The store’s book releases planned for Tuesday, however, will be delayed, since some of what was stolen includes a box of books that were supposed to come out Tuesday.
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