Man charged in $45,000 heist -- of Magic cards

King County prosecutors have filed felony theft charges against a Burien man accused of stealing $45,000-worth of Magic: The Gathering playing cards from his employer.

Donald J. Henry -- a 26-year-old formerly employed by the maker of the collectible card game, Wizards of the Coast -- stands accused of stealing hundreds of rare Magic cards from the company's Renton headquarters. According to charging documents, the cards were seized after an acquaintance of Henry's tried to sell them at a Magic tournament in Portland.

Writing the court, a Renton police detective said Wizards of the Coast contacted authorities in September after another employee reported seeing one vendor with dozens of rare, promotional cards for sale at the Portland event.

The employee determined that a Burien storeowner was acquainted with Henry and suspected Henry had stolen the cards out of a storage locker at Wizards of the Coast, the detective continued. Henry, who'd been hired in December 2009, was fired after an investigation was launched in September.

An internal review showed Henry had been in the locker 70 times while working at Wizards of the Coast. The detective noted that none of Henry's duties would require him to be in the locker so frequently.

During a meeting with Wizards of the Coast staff, the Burien storeowner returned several hundred rare, promotional Magic cards, the detective said.

"The researched market value of the returned 1,753 Magic cards was $44,828.50," the detective told the court. "That does not include the value of cards that were already sold or not recovered."

Describing a post-arrest interview, the detective told the court that Henry admitted to stealing more than 200 rare cards. Prosecutors allege Henry stole all of the cards seized from the Burien storeowner.

Charged with first-degree theft, Henry has not been jailed in the case.