A former hobby store employee has admitted stealing thousands of dollars' worth of Pokémon trading cards and other items while working in Dunedin.
According to a report by Stuff, the 23-year-old Christchurch man appeared in the Dunedin District Court on Thursday before Judge David Robinson, where he pleaded guilty to a charge of theft by a person in a special relationship. The offence carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
According to court documents, the theft involved trading cards, including Pokémon cards, along with food and drink items, with the total value estimated at $20,000.
The court heard the man had been employed at a specialist hobby store in Dunedin that sold trading cards, whose value varied depending on rarity, condition and demand. Packs typically contained between 10 and 12 cards, while boxes held between 24 and 36 packs, Stuff has reported.
The summary of facts stated the man was repeatedly caught on CCTV taking trading card packs and food or drink items without paying. It said he would sometimes throw away unwanted cards or place selected cards into a personal pile beside the counter before leaving with them unpaid.
“On multiple occasions,” the summary said, the man “used falsely processed items as cash sales, without depositing any cash into the till,” as quoted by Stuff.
Investigators also alleged the employee manipulated the store’s inventory system to conceal missing stock.
The man later admitted he initially stole individual card packs before escalating to entire boxes. He also admitted altering stock records “to write-off or adjust stock in the system to account for what he had been taking,” Stuff has quoted.
Court documents further revealed that he sold some of the stolen cards online.
According to Stuff, defence lawyer Liam Collins indicated his client would seek a discharge without conviction. Interim name suppression remains in place until the man’s next court appearance.
He is due to be sentenced in September.