Investigation into Colorado $1.4 million Nintendo Switch 2 heist; gaming community says "this hurts"
On June 8, Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office deputies were called to the Love's Travel Stop in Bennett. The semi-truck driver made a stop there and said he was doing a pre-trip inspection when he noticed his trailer had been broken into. Several pallets of the Switch 2 consoles were stolen.
CBS
"Deputies discovered that 2,810 Nintendo Switch 2 consoles were taken from the back of the truck," said Anders Nelson, a Public Information Officer with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office. "These consoles retail for about $499. This is well over $1 million in inventory lost."
The console has been a big hit for the gaming community since the Nintendo Switch 2 just released two weeks ago. The gaming consoles are a high-demand item and have been flying off the shelves at big box stores. Nintendo said the gaming system has become its fastest-selling console of all time, surpassing the initial launch of every Nintendo console in history, including the PlayStation 4 and 5.
Employees at local video game shops say they can't even get the gaming systems in their stores and are worried the heist will impact supply moving forward. The theft happened just three days after the gaming consoles were released.
"It's unruly. It's crazy," said Ryan Barth with Level 7 Games. "Stuff like this hurts it, of course."
Nintendo
The new consoles are expected to be in short supply globally because of high demand. Barth added that the system has already been hard to get hold of.
"We haven't been able to get any into any of the Level 7 stores. As a matter of fact, we've been having a really hard time just ordering them," said Barth.
Barth said the stolen consoles will likely be sold online or somewhere that doesn't require documentation, and it will be difficult to know if you bought a stolen item.
"Unless Nintendo comes out with all of those numbers that show what numbers to be on the lookout for and what numbers not to buy, it's super hard," said Barth.
The driver was headed from Redmond, Wash., to a video game store in Grapevine, Texas, when the heist was discovered. Investigators are now looking into whether the crime happened in Bennett or in another city along the truck's route.
"The theft was discovered in the town of Bennett, so the Arapahoe County Sheriff's office is taking the lead on the investigation," said Nelson. "Through the investigation, if we determine that it happened in a different location, we'll obviously work with the correct jurisdictions on this investigation."
The suspect or suspects could be facing felony theft charges and criminal mischief. If anyone has information about the crime, you're asked to call the investigations tipline at 720-874-8477.
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