Tennessee man allegedly stole $10,000 worth of sports cards in Kentucky
A Tennessee man has been charged with stealing $10,000 worth of merchandise from a store in Lexington that specializes in sports cards and collectibles.
A federal grand jury indicted Jason Cates, 38, of Knoxville, Thursday on charges of conspiracy and transporting stolen goods across state lines.
According to the indictment, Cates and another person drove from Knoxville to Lexington, and Cates burglarized a business called Kentucky Roadshow Shop early on Sept. 23 and stole about 1,000 sports cards.
The indictment did not name Cates’ accomplice, listing the person as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Cates and the other person allegedly took the cards back to Knoxville, where Cates sold them over the internet. He had buyers send money to the co-conspirator’s PayPal account, the indictment alleged.
In October, Cates allegedly broke into a sports-card store in Cartersville, Ga., several times over a 10-day period and stole a total of $200,000 in merchandise.
Police found goods from the store in Cates’ apartment when they searched it, the indictment said.
Cates is in jail in Georgia and will be arraigned in Kentucky next month. He is charged in Georgia with possession of tools to commit a crime and burglary, according to the jail site.
The most serious charge in the federal indictment has a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
