A former Wizards of the Coast employee from Burien, Washington stands to lose a lot more than his job as King County prosecutors file felony theft charges over the theft of $45,000 worth of rare Magic: The Gathering cards.
Twenty-six-year-old Donald J. Henry has been accused of the massive theft after a fellow employee observed a vendor trying to sell the rare cards at a Magic tournament in Portland, Oregon this past September. The employee determined that the vendor and Henry were acquainted and reported the incident to the company.
Henry was hired on at Wizards of the Coast's Renton headquarters in December of 2009, fired in September when an investigation into the incident was launched. The investigation found that during his brief employment Henry had made 70 trips to a storage locker the company uses to hold rare promotional cards - far more than his job description warranted.
A meeting with members of the Wizards of the Coast staff led to Henry's store owner acquaintance returning some 1,753 remarkable cards with an estimated market value of $44,828.
Henry has been charged with first-degree theft, having admitted to stealing more than 200 of the rare cards returned to the company. Prosecutors seek to prove that he stole the whole lot.
The moral of this story? There is no good reason to dual-class as both a Wizard and a Rogue.
"Life is a waste of time. Time is a waste of life. Get wasted all the time, and you'll have the time of your life!"
Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24869
Posted:
Dec 24 2010 10:36 am
Actually, the moral of the story is don't steal unless you're good at it.
Or don't be greedy, steal still valuable but more common cards. Or don't sell all your haul to one guy. Or don't sell all your haul to one guy you personally know...
"Let that be a lesson to you, your family and everyone you've ever known..."
"Thanks to denial, I'm immortal!"
Dr. Jeebus
Moderator
Title: SLF Harbinger of Death
Joined: Sep 03 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 5228
Posted:
Dec 25 2010 02:13 pm
Well it was over 1700 cards, which means average value is like 25 bucks per card. That's not that bad in terms of value, considering the cards that WotC is known to have in their vault (And considering that the copies in their vault are NOT the ones used for the priceless treasure in Zendikar).