LAKELAND, Fla. — A 33-year-old Eagle Lake man faces a petit theft charge after deputies say he swiped collectible trading cards worth more than $400 from a business along US 92 East.
Caleb John Michael Mobley was arrested Tuesday after investigators matched him to a Sunday afternoon theft captured on the store’s security cameras, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
The store owner told deputies she didn’t immediately notice anything missing after a customer spent time looking through a binder containing numerous collectible game cards. Security footage later showed the man drop the binder, then bend down to pick it up. While doing so, authorities said, he removed four cards.
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One was a Pokémon card. The other three were from the One Piece series. Combined, the four cards were valued at $436.
When the business owner reviewed the footage and realized what had happened, she contacted law enforcement. A detective went a step further, pulling additional video that showed the suspect arriving and leaving in a white, older model Nissan SUV.
That detail led investigators to Mobley, who lives in Eagle Lake. Deputies found him at his residence Tuesday. He admitted to taking the cards and said he planned to sell them, according to arrest reports.
Instead, he was booked into the Polk County Jail on a charge of retail petit theft. The four cards were recovered and returned to the business.
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