Happy Valley, SA: Alleged Pokémon card thief arrested after home break-in
A teenage girl was home alone when she heard strange noises.
A 39-year-old South Australian man has been arrested after he allegedly broke into a Happy Valley home in an attempt to steal thousands of dollars worth of Pokémon cards from the property.
A teenage girl was home alone on Wednesday evening when she heard noises and went to investigate, finding an unknown man in her home.
The girl ran to a neighbour’s property and called police.
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The alleged intruder was located nearby in possession of a large quantity of the trading cards that had been allegedly stolen in the break-in.
The man was arrested and charged with aggravated serious criminal trespass and theft.
He was refused bail and is set to appear in front of the Christies Beach Magistrates Court on Thursday.
SA Police reported that the teenage victim was emotionally shaken by the incident but was not physically injured.
Pokémon trading card prices vary widely from a few dollars for common cards to hundreds of thousands of dollars for rare and collectible pieces.
The most expensive card ever sold is a mint-condition Pikachu Illustrator card that sold for $16.492 million USD in February 2026, according to the Guinness World Records.
The next most valuable was a 1996 Pikachu card that sold for $3.3 million USD in August.
