Northland Breaks. A tidy but unimposing shop at 91 Harvester Street in an industrial stub off West Fifth. Near the Union Pacific rail yard. Image: Steve Lunde
One haul estimated at $10,400; total pegged near $25,000
WINONA, Minn. – Police confiscated hundreds of sports cards reported stolen from the Winona based online card dealer Northland Breaks. The cards were seized at a Winona residence of a clerk who had been fired in November but who kept coming back to chat with former colleagues who were still on the payroll. The fired clerk, Ike Allen Erdmanczyk, 19, of Winona, has been charged with walking off with an estimated $25,000 in trading cards. Police said that many cards reported stolen weren’t at the residence and perhaps had been sold. The thefts, according to surveillance video, were mostly during business hours. One haul, however, police said was a break in which Erdmanczyk used a hidden key whose location he knew from having worked there. This all is according to police reports and a criminal complaint being drafted. The complaint lists multiple misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor and felony theft chaeges. Pivotal points in the case:
> November Erdmanczyk was fired by Ty Styx, owner of Northland Breaks, for having unsealed some cartons of trading cards.
> Erdmancyck returned often to the premises, ostensibly to chat with friends who still worked there.
> December 28. Erdmaczyk was charged with stealing $1,000 in cards while with a friend who still working here but ducked out for a bite at Kwik Trip.
> On his visits, Erdmaczyk browsed among cartons of cards while employees, seldom more than two a time, were busy in a side room conducting live online carton “breaks.”
> Sensing inventory losses Northland’s owner, Ty Styx, began reviewing surveillance video, identified further losses, and called police.
.> January 27. Armed with a search warrant, police went to Erdmaczyk’s residence, seized cards that were identified by Styx as stolen, and made the second arrest.
Retail counters. Cards and trading paraphernalia on sale for local customers. Hours 10 a,m to 7 p.m.
Breaks table. Where sealed cartons of cards are broken open live on the Loupe online steaming site.
Sample card. This one valued at $45.
Serial thefts
Ty Styx, owner of Northland Breaks, gave police this list of thefts and his estimate of values:November 13, $480; November 16, $805; November 17, $1,423; November 17, $1,422; November 20, $1,700 and $175; November 25, $465; December 5, $2,060; December 6, $403; December 11, $1,440; December 12, $320; December 13, $900; December 15, $3,600; December 19, $1,807; December 20, $2,800; December 24, $6,435.
Trading card industry
Northland Breaks is a trading card retailer but also runs a lucrative online speculation business in trading cards. The cards, each featuring an athlete, are in factory-sealed cartons. In advance, each players pledges to buy a card of an athlete they specify, say $45 for a Drake Maye of the New England Patriots. Then the players watch an online streaming ceremony of sorts. A carton is unsealed – which is called “breaking,” With high expectations among olinene players, the cards are revealed dramatically one at a tim. No Drake Maye card? “Better luck next time. Thanks anyway for the $45 bid.”