Crime. (Credit: Flickr Creative Commons)
Gotta catch 'em all -- even the stolen ones: Rasham Robinson peddled prized Pikachu, Blastoise cards stolen in burglary, police say
An Altoona, PA man has been charged by state police with six felony counts of receiving stolen property and six misdemeanor counts of theft by deception for allegedly selling stolen PSA-graded Pokemon cards to a Trappe Borough sports cards business for more than $6,000.
On April 27, 2025, at 10:47 a.m., Pennsylvania State Police at Skippack were contacted by an Altoona Police Department detective regarding stolen Pokemon trading cards taken in a burglary of a trading card store called Caster’s Collectibles, police said. On the morning of April 26, burglars broke into the store, stealing numerous cards valued in the tens of thousands, police said.
The Altoona detective was told that six of the cards had been located at Nashcards at 130 W. Main St. in Trappe Borough, police said.
At 10:58 a.m. April 27, troopers spoke with an employee at Nashcards, who told them that the day before, a man, alleged to be Rasham Robinson, 40, of the 3000 block of Broad Avenue, Altoona, contacted the store, asking if they were interested in some cards he had in his possession, police said. The employee told Robinson to come to the store, and Robinson arrived at 2:47 p.m. on April 26 with six Pokemon cards, police said.
The employee worked out a deal with Robinson, and all six cards were purchased for $6,550, police said. Robinson was given $4,775 in cash, $940 worth of boxes of cards, a $475 sports card, and a $360 gift card to use at another time, police said.
The Nashcards employee had no idea the cards were stolen, until he went to a Facebook group for card collectors, police allege. There, the employee saw a post about stolen Pokemon cards from the store in Altoona, police said, and noticed they were the cards he purchased from Robinson.
Robinson sold Nashcards the following Pokemon cards:
The employee sent photos of the cards to a Casters Collectibles business partner, who confirmed the cards were theirs and stolen from their store, police said.
On April 27, at 1:48 p.m., troopers were called to NashCards again, as Robinson came back to the store to use the gift card, according to the complaint.
Troopers approached Robinson while he was sitting in a black 2009 BMW X5 SUV out front of the store, and he was then escorted into the back office of Nashcards to be interviewed about the sale of cards, police said.
Robinson allegedly told troopers the cards were his and he had them for two years, and that he had not lived in Altoona for some time, residing now in a hotel in Pottstown. Robinson, police said, denied being in possession of the stolen cards.
At 2:20 p.m., the Caster’s Collectibles business partner arrived to Nashcards to confirm that they were indeed their Pokemon cards, police said.
Each card was PSA-graded, with its own identification number, meaning there will never be a duplicate identification number, police said. Robinson was taken to state police barracks in Skippack Township for further questioning.
At 3:35 p.m., Robinson was interviewed by troopers, who revealed the cards came from Altoona, police said. He told troopers he and his family are homeless and a friend helped him, police said. Robinson allegedly admitted that the cards were given to him to help out with money, and he was told that they are valuable.
Robinson, police allege, was completely the cards were stolen when they were given to him. After he was given the cards, Robinson and his family came to the Perk Valley to look for work and began to stay in a Pottstown hotel, police said.
Robinson is free on $25,000 unsecured bond and has a preliminary hearing June 17 before Magisterial District Judge Cathleen Kelly Rebar.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
