Very early Friday morning, Georges Laraque’s cell phone started vibrating very often, which is generally not a good thing according to him.
“I think my associate at the store called me about 60,000 times,” said the former Canadiens player on Friday morning. I suspected it wasn’t good…”
It wasn’t good indeed. The Ultime Sports Collection Laval store, of which Laraque is the co-owner, was the victim of a major theft of sports cards during the night from Thursday to Friday.
According to Laraque himself, it would be a crime worth around $20,000, since the criminal went directly to the most expensive cards section of the store, located in Laval.
“We’re in the process of cataloging all of that, but he went to where we had our most expensive cards,” he added. There are three shelves, and on it there were, among other things, boxes of Formula 1 cards at $3,000 a box. »
In the immediate future, Laraque, who also hosts the lunchtime show Laraque et Gonzalez on BPM Sports with Stéphane Gonzalez, is hopeful of being able to find the equipment that was stolen. On social networks and on his various accounts, he has already posted video images of the criminal at work.
Does the resurgence in popularity of the sports card have something to do with it? The Laraque store has been open since 2018, and this is the second break-in of its kind committed on the premises.
“With interest rates going up, people are a little more cautious and the price of cards has gone down,” he said. But this is the second time this has happened to us; the first time, the guy’s blonde came back the next day to pay for everything!
“But we are hopeful that we will find the culprit. There are the images on our cameras that have already been broadcast, but in addition, our cards are graded, with a serial number on them. It will not be easy for this person to try to resell them. »
Finally, Georges Laraque believes that the main thing in this affair is that no one was injured. “The worst thing is that in the evening like this, we often stay there even when the store is closed. I shouldn’t have bumped into the guy…”
