A man found inside a closed Best Buy store in Pasadena was arrested on suspicion of burglary as people lined up outside ahead of a Pokémon card release in the early hours of Wednesday morning, April 29.
Best Buy’s security alerted police to the man inside the store on the 3400 block of East Foothill Boulevard around 1:15 a.m., Pasadena police Lt. Tim Bundy said.
“They were monitoring the live cameras for the store, and they saw that there was a guy inside their closed and locked store,” Bundy said.
A manager met police and opened the door. Police found the man, identified as a 45-year-old transient, and arrested him without incident, Bundy said. There were no signs of forced entry.
The suspect told police that he went in during business hours and just got locked in. He ate some snacks and drank sodas from the store and took headphones out of the package, police said. Police had prior contacts with the suspect for theft, Bundy said.
Police have no knowledge of the burglary being connected to the Pokémon card release. The suspect did not mention the cards, they said.
“They (police) said there’s someone in the building,” said Tony Funtes, who was outside the store waiting for the card drop.
Collectors were waiting for a drop of Pokémon 151 cards, Funtes said. He had been waiting since 11 p.m., while others had arrived earlier in the night.
Thieves do at times target Pokémon cards and other valuable collectables.
In Anaheim in February, thieves tunneled through the wall of a collectibles store, stealing $180,000 in merchandise including Pokémon cards valued at hundreds of dollars each.
In Burbank, Pokémon cards were among $100,000 in merchandise stolen from a sports cards store in December 2025.
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