JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A sports memorabilia shop on Jacksonville’s southside is asking the public to help identify the latest thief who has targeted the shop.
Showtime Sports Cards and Collectibles on Phillips Highway has been robbed three separate times over the past six months with the thieves taking off with thousands of dollars in merchandise each time.
The most recent hit was on Monday evening, which was different from the previous two robberies that happened in the early morning hours when the business was closed.
Surveillance video caught a man wearing a black shirt, glasses and a hat looking through a rack of jerseys before he grabbed a bunch of them and ran out of the store to a truck waiting for him.
The store shared the video on its social media in hopes that someone could come forward with information.
If anyone knows this person who did a grab and run late this afternoon in Jacksonville during store hours and jumped into the back of a black pickup-please contact us or @jaxsheriff with any information. Thank You #jacksonville pic.twitter.com/CRBOqeOIgU
— Showtime Sports Cards & Collectibles (@ShowtimeofJax) October 31, 2023
James Brown, a former detective with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, says even though the third robbery happened at a different time of day, it may be the same group of people working together.
“You have to look at the risk. The person that comes in realizes that there’s only one clerk in the store, and you got a vehicle coming, you are standing by grab them and run. They may not be so concerned about the video cameras or leaving a trail because they realize that it’s opportunity,” Brown said.
When it comes to selling the items they’ve stolen, Brown said it’s less likely to find the merchandise online.
“You’ll find that a lot of the items such as these cards, probably will be going from hand to hand. And locally. If they are going by way of the web, it’ll be one email to another,” Brown said.
Most of the items stolen in the first two robberies were collectors’ cards for different sports like baseball, hockey, and basketball, which is also different from the third robbery where a handful of jerseys were taken.
Brown said in cases like these where there are multiple occurrences there will be a pattern.
“At some point you may hear information that comes in off the street from individuals that may know of the cards being taken or are curious about why is this person all of a sudden has this particular card or through other social media but that’s usually how they solve them, by leads coming in from people talking,” he said.
News4JAX stopped by the store to speak with the owners but they weren’t available to speak.
If you have any information on these robberies, call 904-630-0500.