$300,000 worth of TCG cards returned as August’s Gen Con heist nears conclusion, detectives ‘in communication’ with suspect attorneys

This article was originally published on August 7, and has been updated on August 15 to include new information on two “strong persons of interest”, identified as the developers of the card game Castle Assault. It has been updated again August 31, as the cards have now been returned. Click here to jump to the new information.

As first spotted by Dicebreaker, a recent statement from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) reports that around $300,000’s worth of trading cards were stolen from Gen Con 2023 August 2.

The IMPD’s official statement revealed more about the card thieves. “The people of interest reportedly acquired a pallet jack, removed one pallet of gaming cards, and moved them to an unknown location.”

Two additional photos were posted by the IMPD, asking the public to help identify its potential suspects, who can be seen below, strolling out of Gen Con with the pallet trailing behind them.

Then, on August 14 (as reported by Gizmodo) the IMPD identified and named two suspects in the ongoing case: Andrew Pearson Giaume and Thomas J. Dunbar. 

The IMPD’s news page on Facebook updated its call for public help, alongside several other photos of the “strong persons of interest”. One photo even showed a suspect wearing what appears to be Castle Assault t-shirt.

(Image credit: IMPD)

Giaume and Dunbar are designers themselves, and are the creators of the card game “Castle Assault”, which describes itself as “tower defence meets tactical strategy”. The game was successfully kickstarted in 2015, and it’s been played at Gen Con before—in 2017. Though, the game’s official Facebook page still has that year’s advertisement as its banner image.

It’s likely that the pair were taking advantage of the pre-event rush, where scenes of event staff moving pallets are commonplace. “The alleged theft took place before the opening of events in the downtown area and while vendors were setting up their displays at various times.”

As confirmed by Ravensburger’s official Twitter account, the upcoming Disney Lorcana card game is accounted for. While it was a prime candidate for would-be card pirates—considering hopefuls were queuing for as long as 14 hours to play it—it seems the heist happened elsewhere.

The sheer estimated value of a single pallet—one that could pay off roughly eight combined student debts in the US at the time of writing—boggles the mind. It’s not entirely surprising, though: some ultra-rare cards have gone for as much as $2 million, and even empty boxes of Magic: The Gathering items have sold for hundreds.

Cards returned

These ill-gotten goods wouldn’t stay missing, however. As reported by Dicebreaker, on August 29 the IMPD released this statement on the ongoing case. “IMPD detectives were able to locate and recover the stolen merchandise in New York City on Friday, August 25 … the cards are in the process of being returned to Indianapolis and held as evidence.”

While the IMPD have rightfully noted that the suspects should be “considered innocent until proven guilty”, that hasn’t stopped people from trying to enact their own form of vigilante justice against the suspect’s game Castle Assault. Its rating has sunk to 4.0 on BoardGameGeek after a sea of one-point review bombs, with the occasional voice of calm poking through.

(Image credit: BoardGameGeek)

(Image credit: BoardGameGeek)

A separate statement by the IMPD reads “Detectives are no longer looking for these persons of interest. Detectives have been in communication with their attorneys. The case is expected to presented to the prosecutor’s office in the near future for charging consideration.” 

At the time of writing, the authorities are are still working through the specifics of this case, and this article will be updated again once they do.

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