Hockey memorabilia from The Great One was recovered from a residence in Shellbrook, Sask., after RCMP had been actively investigating the theft since April 2022.
Police say about $100,000 worth of Wayne Gretzky memorabilia was stolen from a home in the Shellbrook/Ahtahkakoop area some time between November 2021 and March 2022.
Officers executed a search warrant on a home in the 400 block of 2nd Avenue East in Shellbrook on Saturday, and say they found several stolen items.
Police say roughly three-quarters of the memorabilia was recovered, as well as other stolen items like a snowmobile, trailer and pickup truck.
RCMP note that the investigation is ongoing.
“We began investigating this theft nearly a year ago and given the prevalence of online ‘buy and sell’ sales, we didn’t know for sure if any of the stolen memorabilia items would be recovered,” said Staff Sgt. Shannon Haggarty.
“This is an excellent example of how investigations take time to complete. It was continued, dedicated efforts on the part of RCMP investigators that resulted in charges laid and ultimately, items recovered from multiple different theft investigations.”
Derek Herzog, 41, of Shellbrook, was charged with possession of stolen property obtained by crime over $5,000.
His first appearance in court is scheduled for April 4.
Aron Gratias, the Saskatchewan man with the prized Wayne Gretzky collection, had accumulated 19 Wayne Gretzky autographed jerseys, along with sticks, pucks and pictures bearing the signature of The Great One. Many of the pictures were of Gratias’ family with Gretzky.
He stored his items in a container on his family’s rural property outside Shellbrook, which he later found had been broken into.
Gratias told Global News the collection is priceless to him. He’s not an investor, but he wanted to pass it down to his two children one day.
Back in April, police said the items reported stolen included:
- 19 stolen Gretzky jerseys
- autographed large Gretzky pictures and a large painting
- autographed sticks
- autographed pucks all in display cases
- close to 10,000 cards, including 2,200 of Gretzky, some autographed and one framed Gretzky PSA 8 rookie card
- 1979 Mattel dolls still in boxes
- figurines, some of which were autographed
- Team Canada autographed photos
— with files from Ryan Kessler
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