PANAMA CITY — A Maringouin man was sentenced to 10 years behind bars after he was convicted of stealing more than $100,000 in collectible baseball cards in 2023, the district attorney in Panama City said. 

Leon Rowe Jr., 31, was also ordered to pay $183,000 on Monday. 

Rowe is the first of four defendants to go to trial in the theft of the Panama City collectible card shop. Two of the other people set to face trial, Christopher Brown and Cedric Vondo, are from Maringouin.

The burglary, authorities said, was part of a theft spree that stretched from Panama City west to Louisiana in late 2022 and early 2023.

“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.”

In Panama City, hundreds of cards were stolen, including a 1955 Sandy Koufax and a 1954 Hank Aaron, valued at $4,500 and $4,000, respectively. The collection also included 65 Mickey Mantles, 34 Hank Aarons, 11 Whitey Fords, and cards from Tom Seaver, Roger Maris, Nolan Ryan, and Johnny Bench.

In the Panama City case, surveillance video showed a man swinging a large hammer at the glass entrance door and kicking a hole in it. Four men wearing gloves and with their faces covered rushed through the hole, with at least two grabbing collectible bats to smash the glass cases inside.