2 men accused of stealing over $2M in baseball cards from Strongsville hotel face judge

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Two men accused of stealing over $2 million worth of baseball cards from a Best Western in Strongsville, pleaded not guilty at their arraignment in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Thursday.

Jacob Paxton, 27, is an employee for the hotel. He pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated theft of $1,500,000 or more and one count of tampering with evidence.

The judge set Paxton’s bond at $50,000 and set his next court date for July 15.

The second suspect, Jason Bowling, 50, pleaded not guilty to one count of receiving stolen property.

Bowling’s bond was set at $100,000 and he will also come back to court on July 15.

According to Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley, a FedEx delivery employee dropped off a package containing 54 vintage baseball cards, worth $2,123,447, at the hotel on April 17.

O’Malley said the cards were shipped to the hotel by Memory Lane Inc., for a sports card conference taking place next door.

On April 18, a representative from Memory Lane Inc. went to the hotel to claim the package, but it could not be found and police were called.

After investigating, Strongsville police said they learned Paxton had rifled through several packages delivered to the hotel and took the baseball cards to Bowling’s home in Cleveland.

On May 23, police executed a search warrant at Bowling’s home and said they found 52 of the 54 stolen cards.

Two cards remain missing, a 1909 Ramly Walter Johnson card and a 1941 Ted Williams card.

If you have any information about this matter, please call Strongsville Police at 440.580.3247 and reference report #2024-000693.