PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WAFB) – A Louisiana man who helped steal more than $100,000 worth of collectible baseball cards in Florida has been sentenced, officials said.
According to Florida State Attorney Larry Basford, Leon Rowe Jr., 31, will face 10 years behind bars and will have to pay $183,000 in restitution. He was found guilty in September of grand theft of more than $100,000.
In a case that happened in Panama City in 2023, Rowe and others allegedly stole hundreds of baseball collectors’ cards from a store, ranging from a 1955 Sandy Koufax to a 1954 Hank Aaron, according to authorities.
Surveillance video of the scene in Panama City showed a man swinging a large hammer at the store’s glass entrance door and then kicking a hole in it, prosecutors said. They added that four men with their faces covered then rushed through the hole, and at least two of them grabbed collectible bats to smash glass cases inside the store.
“In two minutes, they destroyed a business that a man spent decades building,” Prosecutor Zachary VanDyke said. “We are glad the perpetrator has been held accountable and that restitution has been ordered. But we understand nothing can replace what this victim lost.”
According to Bansford, Rowe was the first of four defendants to go on trial. Bansford added that a second defendant pleaded to charges and testified against Rowe, a third is awaiting a trial, and a fourth has not yet been captured.
Prosecutors said that Rowe also participated with others in a burglary and theft spree involving many gaming and collectible stores from Panama City, Florida, to Louisiana. The crimes allegedly happened between late 2022 and 2023.
According to officials, DNA found at one crime scene in Alabama was matched to Rowe.
Basford thanked law enforcement officers across the Gulf Coast who collaborated together in many of the cases.
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