Local Libraries Report $10,000 in Switch Games Allegedly Stolen by Thief

Few fans would want to reenact Mario villain antics outside of your local gaming convention, but it seems certain groups aim to acquire Switch-related merchandise by any means necessary. Weeks after an unknown group, individual, or perhaps a certain King Koopa stole a trove of Switch 2 units from the back of a truck, police accused a separate California man of stealing thousands of dollars worth of Switch games from local libraries. It’s clear the $450 Switch 2 is so hot right now that some folks want to get their hands on both the console and games by any means necessary.

In a Facebook post dated June 17, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office alleged Jamal Reed-Obafumi, of Oakland, Calif., went full Nabbit on seven libraries in both April and June, then allegedly slinked away with approximately $10,000 of video games for the Nintendo Switch. To hit that number, any alleged burglar would need to pack away several hundred game cards. If they were first-party titles, most of which cost $60, then he would have made off with a little over 160 cases. Since you’ll likely find a fair number of older third-party titles among those, the number could be over 200.

Marin County is located just north of San Francisco, where Nintendo recently opened up its latest brick-and-mortar storefront. While police did not reveal which libraries were allegedly robbed, a spokesperson for the county sheriff’s office told Gizmodo Reed-Obafumi allegedly entered the locations during business hours and slipped the games into his pockets before leaving the premises.

The spokesperson further told us that they have recovered “very few games,” numbering less than five. The office could not confirm whether the games could have been stored somewhere or if they were already sold online to the ravenous Nintendo fans looking for something to play on their new Switch 2.

While the sheriff’s office did not have any statement on Reed-Obafumi’s alleged motives, anybody looking to pick up today’s Switch games would probably want to quickly flip them for the hoard of gamers looking for something to play on Switch 2. The Switch 2 has already proved itself to be one of the hottest devices of 2025, and it’s already on track to beat the original Switch’s first-year sales. Nintendo said it sold 3.5 million units in the first four days after launch on June 5.

Stealing from a library is already dastardly enough; you would expect any perp to pull off their mask, Scooby-Doo style, and reveal it was actually Bowser Jr. behind the robberies. Unfortunately, the actual alleged perps are likely just people looking to make a quick buck. Scalpers were desperate to launder their Switch 2 preorders to the highest bidder on launch day. Although there were many consoles available on launch day itself, most shops online are currently out of stock. Even if you missed out on the launch day rush, you shouldn’t spend anything more than the suggested retail price for the console or any games. Don’t let the Bowsers of the world win.