Gavin Newsom Refused to Lift a Finger After Thieves Ransacked Tom Brady’s New Store

August 31, 2026 Cat2, The Media
J.D.S via shutterstock

Tom Brady came home to the Bay Area last week and opened a card shop.

Somebody already smashed the window, cleaned out the display cases, and walked off with $12,000 in cards.

But Gavin Newsom refused to lift a finger after thieves ransacked Tom Brady’s new store.

Thieves Hit Brady's Store at 12:30 in the Morning

The break-in happened at Town & Country Village on El Camino Real in Palo Alto at 12:30 a.m. Saturday.

Palo Alto police say the suspect or suspects smashed the front window to get in.

Then they smashed the display cases.

Then they walked out with 60 cards worth more than $12,000 and vanished.

As of this week, no arrests have been made.

Brady had been at the store himself just eight days earlier for the grand opening on August 15.

He grew up minutes away in San Mateo.

"Very surreal," Brady told KTVU at the opening. "Growing up in San Mateo. I got into collecting when I was a young kid."

Fans waited hours in line to meet him.

The thieves waited one week.

This Is California's Pattern, Not Brady's Bad Luck

This is what California does to businesses that open inside its borders.

Bill Maher and Woody Harrelson found out in May 2025 when five masked thieves hit their West Hollywood cannabis dispensary at 4:30 in the morning – smashing the window and cleaning out the store in seconds.

Maher has spent years on HBO complaining that California Democrats are too soft on crime.

They still voted for them.

In March 2026, a Fremont jewelry store lost $1.7 million in a heist that was over in 70 seconds.

That same month in San Jose, a crew of a dozen people drove an SUV through a storefront and put the owner in the hospital.

Palo Alto – supposed to be one of the wealthier, better-policed ZIP codes in America – just proved no one is protected.

Gavin Newsom has been announcing solutions to California's crime problem for years.

California passed tougher anti-theft laws in 2025 – longer probation periods, new felony thresholds, retail theft restraining orders.

The criminals did not get the memo.

CardVault's own SoHo location in New York was hit in 2025 – a thief manipulated a tap-to-pay terminal, convinced a staffer the transaction went through, and left with nearly $10,000 in cards.

At least New York put a face on a poster.

Palo Alto has a broken window and an open case.

Newsom Passed the Laws and the Thieves Kept Coming

The talking point from Sacramento has been consistent: crime is near historic lows, the new laws are working, the state is turning a corner.

What the talking point skips is that California still costs its businesses an estimated $20 billion a year in retail theft losses.

Smash-and-grab crews are operating from San Diego to the Bay Area with the speed and coordination of professional teams – in and out in under two minutes, merchandise sold before the police report is filed.

Collectibles are a perfect target.

They are small, portable, easy to flip at card shows or online, and nearly impossible to trace once they leave a display case.

Brady's store carries autographed memorabilia, Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, and high-end sports cards – the exact inventory a motivated thief can liquidate in a weekend.

Proposition 36 passed in 2024 and was supposed to put real consequences back into California's criminal code.

The Palo Alto break-in happened 21 months later with no suspects in custody.

Tom Brady went seven Super Bowls without losing a fumble he could not recover.

In California, the fumble just sits there – and nobody picks it up.

Sources:

  • Paul Bois, "Tom Brady's Northern California Trading Card Shop Ransacked One Week After Grand Opening," Breitbart, August 26, 2026.
  • Gennady Sheyner, "CardVault by Tom Brady burglarized a week after opening in Palo Alto," Palo Alto Online, August 24, 2026.
  • "Tom Brady's new CardVault store in Palo Alto burglarized 1 week after opening," ABC7 San Francisco (KGO-TV), August 2026.
  • "Celebrity-owned pot shop in Los Angeles burglarized," KTLA, May 19, 2025.
  • "Smash-And-Grab Robberies Are Rising in 2026," TrackVault, 2026.