A 23-year-old Magic: The Gathering player who had $8,000 worth of his cards stolen managed to help snare the perpetrator after working with the police to craft an elaborate sting operation.

According to The Washington Post, Kemper Pogue of Woodbridge, Virginia said he was quite upset when he realized that his car had been burglarized and that he’d lost 300 cards.

"I went in the house, cracked open a beer, had a few sips, and promptly started screaming expletives as I waited for the police to arrive," he told the Post. "I’d been collecting these cards since I was a kid, and over the years they’ve only increased in value."

Pogue, who did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment, posted a message on Facebook to alert fellow players about the burglary and then began calling stores in the region to alert them that the cards might turn up to be sold.

Craig Cunningham, a Prince William County police detective who worked the case, told the Post that he didn’t realize how much Magic cards could be worth and figured the suspects didn’t either.

"I don’t think the bad guys ever realized how much value they were working with," he said. "We’re talking about cards that are expensive and rare. You can’t just get rid of it at a pawn shop because that’s too dangerous."

Neither Cunningham, nor the Fairfax County Police responded to Ars’ request for comment.

Last Thursday, the two suspects turned up at Curio Cavern, a card shop in nearby Springfield. There, an employee who had already been briefed on the situation noticed that the purported card sellers were only selling roughly one-third of the cards that had been stolen. He asked them to return with the entire collection that evening, which they did, around 8pm.

Knowing that the men would be on their way, the store’s owner worked with local law enforcement to craft a ruse: they would place a "Back in 5 minutes" sign on the door, hoping that the suspects would stick around to make the deal. When they did, they were identified by the employee and police officers rushed in with dogs barking at the suspects and Tasers drawn.

One of the suspects, Solomon Dyonne Reed, was charged with felony possession of stolen property with intent to sell. The other who came along for the sale was not charged.

Pogue, for his part, still hasn’t gotten his cards back: they’re being held in a Fairfax police evidence room.

UPDATE 2:35pm CT: Tom Haid, the owner of Curio Cavern, told Ars: "I think either today or sometime this week the cards will be returned. [The police] got everything, even the backpack that the cards were in."

UPDATE Friday 8:50am CT: Pogue did respond late Thursday. He wrote: