A Louisiana man who was part of a 4-man burglary crew that stole more than $100,000 in collectible baseball cards from a Panama City business in 2023 was found guilty of Grand Theft Over $100,000 Friday.
State Attorney Larry Basford said Leon Rowe Jr., 31, of Louisiana, is the first of the defendants to go to trial in any of the cases. A second defendant here pled to his charges and testified against Rowe at Friday’s trial. A third defendant is awaiting trial and the fourth has not been captured.
Prosecutor Zachary VanDyke said Rowe and was part of a burglary and theft spree involving gaming and collectible stores that stretched from Panama City west to Louisiana in late 2022 and early 2023. The three defendants in the Panama City case are from the same area of Louisiana.
In the Panama City case, the defendants took hundreds of collector’s cards ranging from a 1955 Sandy Koufax ($4,500) and 1963 Pete Rose ($4,000), to a 1954 Hank Aaron ($4,000) and a 1948 American Association Babe Ruth ($3,000). The collection included 65 Mickey Mantles, 34 Hank Aarons, 11 Whitey Fords, and cards from Tom Seaver, Roger Maris, Nolan Ryan, and Johnny Bench.
“Thirty-five years of work and more than $100,000 disappeared on the night of Feb. 16, 2023, when this defendant helped break into this store and steal these cards,” VanDyke said. “They were in and out in less than 3 minutes. Three minutes, and 35 years’ worth of work – gone.
“We are glad the jury held this defendant accountable, but there is nothing that will fill the hole left in the victim by the loss of his collectibles.”
The charge is a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. The jury took 20 minutes to reach a verdict after VanDyke’s closing argument.
In the Panama City case, surveillance video showed a man swinging a large hammer at the glass entrance door and kicking a hole in it. Four men wearing gloves and with their faces covered rushed through the hole, with at least two grabbing collectible bats to smash the glass cases inside.
All four fled within 3 minutes.
Following that, there was a string of similar thefts across the Gulf Coast. DNA found at one crime scene in Alabama was matched to Rowe and Cedric Vondo, 37, also of Louisiana. Vondo gave a statement incriminating himself, Rowe, and another co-defendant.
Basford thanked the law enforcement network across the Gulf Coast that collaborated in connecting the cases, and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office for its work on a similar case that assisted the Panama City Police Department’s case.
For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.