BRENTWOOD—On June 10, an alert EXX Alert went out on X social media notifying the public of a smash and grab robbery that took place at a Brentwood hobby store. The store’s surveillance video footage captured depicts three men dressed in black hoodies, black pants, and wearing black masks approaching the sales counter at The Card Lab is located at 420 Beatrice Ct. The robbers jumped over the counter with their backs to the camera at times and broke into the display cases and stole rare and collectible Pokémon cards with an estimated value of $15,000.
The incident took less than a minute’s time. The threesome exited the store got into a Nissan Altima and drove away.
The owner of The Card Lab, Ronnie Hackett, spoke to reporters soon after the robbery. He indicated that the store manager where there at the time of the burglary, but she was upstairs at the time.
“My first thought was, I hope that my employee was okay, and I was relieved to see that she was. And then, I also just kind of wanted to see what damage was done. I’m relieved that she [the employee] was upstairs at the time.
“I’m relieved that she was not downstairs because that could have been way worse. But she was upstairs doing our end of the day protocol,” Hackett stated.
The Card Lab is a new store. It has been operating for approximately two months. Reports indicate they will be temporarily closed to install better security.
The Smash-and-Grab robberies have plagued retail stores in Los Angeles and Contra Costa Counties. The Games of Brentwood store, located at 2400 Sand Creek Rd., has also been previously targeted by thieves in the past.
Brentwood Police Department are investigating the incident.
