BILLINGS — LuckBox Sports Cards owners said they believe a six figure value was stolen over an estimated six month period by a former Billings U.S. Postal Service (USPS) worker.
“There’s a lot of big collectors in Billings," said Ryate Walstad, co-owner of LuckBox. "I have a good friend (who lost) over $85,000. We figure the number’s six figures and it could be upwards of $150,000."
Zachary Louis Simpson was charged in federal court Feb. 13 with stealing mail when he allegedly tried to sell $850 worth of sports cards back to the Billings sports memorabilia business.
“One of the biggest things is: a lot of cards are serial numbered, which is one of the ways that we caught (Simpson). Y’know, some cards, they only make 15 of each card," said Dalton Heilger, co-owner of LuckBox.
U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said in a news release on Thursday that approximately 100 packages that were not addressed to Simpson were recovered alongside more than 10,000 sports trading cards and other memorabilia.
“He has to pay everyone back, which is never going to happen," said Walstad.
Simpson pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to one charge of "theft of mail by an employee," according to Laslovich.
“The biggest thing is kind of put our business at risk in a sense of: it broke trust with some of our customers," said Heiliger.
