Seven years later, man gets his Wayne Gretzky rookie card back
Card has been sitting in RCMP exhibit room since being recovered in 2019
A 1979 Wayne Gretzky rookie card, stolen during a 2015 break-in on Byland Road and recovered by police in 2019, has been returned to its owner, Kelowna RCMP said.
The card was stolen along with other vintage hockey cards. Police investigated for several years, Kelowna RCMP said in a news release, but the case went cold.
In 2019, Kelowna officers responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle in the area of Boyce Crescent in Kelowna.
On scene, officers located man and woman in a pickup truck. Upon further investigation, officers located an abundance of property inside the truck they believed to be stolen.
The pair was arrested for being in possession of property obtained crime and all of the items were seized and brought back to the Kelowna detachment where they were stored as exhibits.
Included among these items, was a 1979 Wayne Gretzky hockey card.
The card sat there until last month, when Mounties working in the exhibit area of the detachment discovered the card and realized its value.
“When I learned there was a vintage hockey card in exhibits, I immediately remembered the investigation from 2015,” said Const. Rick Goodwin in the news release.
“I dug-up the details of the old file and was able to track down Mr. (Ian) Moore. I was surprised to learn he still had my old business card I had given him years earlier.”
Moore attended the Kelowna detachment and without seeing the card, he was able to identify it by providing an exact description, including details that only the owner would know. He was also able to produce records and documents that he has held onto for years.
“I am very impressed by the efforts made by Const. Goodwin, the work he put into this investigation and how he remembered the theft of my hockey cards after so many years,” said Moore. “I am grateful for all the hard work that has been done to return my card.”