West Sacramento comic store broken into, caught on surveillance camera
Trading and comic stores are becoming a target among criminals looking to make off with thousands of dollars in hard-to-track merchandise in a matter of minutes.
The latest target in a string of break-ins this year was Nine8 Comics and Games in West Sacramento on November 25, 2024, at around 3:30 a.m.
Store owner Christopher Aliano said the suspected burglars smashed through the front door and made off with about a thousand dollars in collector booster packs. He admits it could have been much worse.
"A thousand dollars. We got off kind of easy. If things have been in the showcase they would have easily gotten off with $10,000," Aliano said.
Sadly, Nine8 has learned to keep things locked in the back overnight after a series of crimes targeting fellow comic stores this year including World's Best Comics & Toys on Watt Avenue in the Arden-Arcade area. The shop was broken into twice in just three days in April and May.
In August of this year, True Sports Cards & Collectibles near Standford Ranch Road in Rocklin lost about $20,000 in basketball trading cards. Aliano said their kind of merchandise is easy to steal and very hard to track, keeping criminals off authorities' radar.
"There have been connections between break-ins between Yolo, Sacramento, and Placer County," Aliano said store owners are now in constant communication, trading information about the crimes in a group chat. "We're telling people, look out for this stuff because it got stolen from store, this guy came in and ripped off one of our binders, look out for him."
Building a community of small business owners just trying to keep their doors open despite an uptick in comic and trading stores being targeted.
"We're a small business owner, we're not millionaires we're working on shoestring budgets here," Aliano said.
If anyone recognizes the person caught on surveillance video leaving Nine8 Comics and Games, contact the West Sacramento Crime tip hotline at (916) 617-4747 or the text/multimedia hotline at 916-964-8477.