Man arrested for stealing McDonald’s Pokemon cards with intent to traffic

A former McDonald’s employee has been arrested for allegedly trafficking stolen Pokémon cards.

Pokémon cards returned to McDonald’s earlier this month for a second collaboration. This time around, the amount of Happy Meals people could purchase were limited to avoid scalping after a quite hectic 2021.This still didn’t keep some scalpers from suspect behavior—and this time it was a McDonald’s employee.

According to the Gila Hearld, a former Mickey D’s employee named Troy Partin was arrested after an officer spotted stolen Pokémon cards in his car during a traffic stop. The 32-year-old was pulled over when he didn’t stop at a stop light.

Partin admitted he didn’t have a license and the officer started searching the car.

During the search, the officer uncovered a box with over 200 packages of Pokémon cards that were supposed to come with Happy Meals purchased at McDonald’s during the promotion. The stolen collection of Pokémon cards was worth around $120.

Partin initially claimed he had purchased the cards and was going to sell them to a friend. This alibi fell apart once the officer learned Partin was a McDonald’s employee. His place of employment was called and the fast food joint informed the officer the cards were stolen.

After losing his job at McDonald’s, Partin was also charged with theft and trafficking stolen property. He was then booked into the Graham County Adult Detention Facility. Things weren’t looking good since he was already on probation for a previous drug-related charge.

How much were the stolen Pokémon cards worth?

While the past few years have seen massive hype surrounding the Pokémon TCG thanks to overblown estimates from YouTubers, the Pokémon collection from McDonald’s is not the most lucrative loot.

The Pikachu card is the most valuable, but is only worth around $8. Victini is worth around $4 up to $7. Most of the cards in the collection are valued between $1 to $2.

Pokémon collectors who decide to grade their Pokémon cards from McDonald’s will see a big spike in value. A PSA grade of 10 will make some of the Pokémon cards from last year’s collection worth over $100 easily, which will most likely be true of this year’s cards as well.