ROCKVILLE, Md. — Is there a pickleball paddle theft ring targeting businesses across the country?
Some business owners are saying yes.
The owner of Tennis Topia in Rockville, Maryland, says $4,500 worth of pickleball paddles were stolen from his business on April 26.
"I've owned Tennis Topia for just over a year now and never in my wildest dreams did I think I had to lock up pickleball paddles," said Marco Impeduglia in an interview with WUSA9 Thursday afternoon.
The thefts were first reported by Rockville Nights blogger Robert Dyer. It happened just before 2:30pm at the shop along Rockville Pike, according to Rockville City Police.
The thefts were captured by the stores surveillance cameras.
"You can slowly see them taking handful of paddles over the course of eight minutes they stole about 25-30 paddles," said Impeduglia.
It turns out, Tennis Topia wasn't the only business hit by pickleball paddle thieves.
On April 23, the owner of Alpine Ski Shop in Fairfax City was also hit by thieves.
Tyler Bunch, the owner, says thieves stole three or four pickleball paddles. Surveillance footage from the store shows two women taking paddles off of the rack, and hiding them in their clothing.
Bunch says he didn't know right away. Then, on April 24, he got a text from another business owner, warning of a group targeting pickleball paddles at stores across the country.
He says one of his employees mentioned a group matching the description were in the store the previous day.
"Went to the videotape and looked at it and sure enough it was exactly as the text warning was spelled out," Bunch said.
He and Impeduglia say they believe the thieves are part of the same group that has targeted other businesses across the country.
In Colorado, more than $30,000 worth of pickleball equipment was stolen from three Game-Set-Match, Inc., tennis and pickleball chain locations.
Adam Burbary, the owner of the store, told CBS News that the two groups of thieves visited each location several times, a combined six to eight times total since the start of the new year. The largest theft happened at the Centennial location when they stole 45 pickleball paddles in under 10 minutes.
"We've got footage, they're pretty brazen and they don't even care if they're being videoed or taking pictures of," said Burbary.
Another pickleball store in Las Vegas had about $5,000 worth of pickleball paddles stolen.
"I feel it's the same. It's just trying to figure out their endgame of selling paddles that fell off a truck. I just don't get it," Bunch.
The paddles that were stolen in Fairfax City and Rockville range from $150 to $300 a paddle.
"I never would think there was a black market for pickleball paddles," said Bunch.
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