The owner of a Springfield trading card store has been charged with stealing more than $17,000 from a rival business in St. Louis.
Elijah Bishop, owner of Springfield-based Goat Farm Games, has been charged with a Class D felony in connection with a theft that occurred on Aug. 14, according to a criminal complaint filed by the St. Louis County District Attorney’s Office.
Between May and August 2022, Bishop was an employee at Forge and Fire Gaming, a trading card store based in St. Louis.
Bishop allegedly took several sets of playing cards and other merchandise from Forge and Fire and sold them through Facebook accounts, the indictment says. Bishop allegedly kept the proceeds from those sales for himself instead of forwarding them to Forge and Fire.
The value of the stolen goods was $17,474, according to the criminal complaint. Bishop allegedly admitted to his employer at Forge and Fire via email that he had stolen the goods and pocketed the proceeds from the sale. Bishop allegedly made a one-time payment of more than $2,400 to Forge and Fire via PayPal, but canceled the payment shortly thereafter.
“The theft was discovered when the defendant left his Facebook account open on a computer in the store and the owner saw a message about a shopper purchasing certain products from him,” Bishop, a St. Louis County police officer, wrote in a statement accompanying the complaint.
Opening of the Goat Farm Games in Springfield in 2024
Bishop opened Goat Farm Games, located at 2767 W. Republic Rd., Ste. 112, in Springfield in early May 2024, according to previous reporting from the Springfield Daily Citizen. Before opening a brick-and-mortar store, Bishop operated Goat Farm Games out of his Springfield home.
Bishop did not return a call seeking comment for this story. Goat Farm Games was closed Aug. 19.
Marc Nolan, co-owner of Forge and Fire, said he was glad the case was moving forward.
“It’s great that the legal system is working,” Nolan said on August 19. “I’ve tried to explore all options before so that we don’t have to go down this route.”
Nolan said the company contacted Bishop multiple times, asking him to repay the money or return the stolen merchandise so the company would not face theft charges, but Bishop allegedly refused to comply.
“I said, ‘Just pay it back and everything will be fine,'” Nolan said. “But he just had no interest in paying it back.”
Bishop is scheduled to appear in the St. Louis County Court Building on September 23, 2024. A criminal summons was sent to Bishop on August 15.
