Is There a Pickleball Theft Ring Actually Robbing Stores of Paddles?

No, you're not having déjà vu.

We have another story of thousands of dollars of pickleball paddles being lifted by thieves. This time, it happened in April to a store in Rockville, Maryland.

Authorities are speculating that it could all be part of a bigger theft ring that ran a similar scam earlier this year in Colorado and Las Vegas, as their descriptions and methods are similar.

Video shows thieves pocketing paddles

Each video begins the same way; a man enters the store and distracts the manager on duty while two or three women come in behind him and head over to the pickleball section.

The women can be seen placing handfuls of paddles under their clothing and then walking out of the store.

Store owners are in disbelief

While thievery is awful and shouldn't happen at any store, what makes these even worse is that the target of this ring seems to be small, family-owned stores.

One owner, Marco Impeduglia of Tennis Topia, said, "Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd have to lock up pickleball paddles."

But that is the harsh reality store owners face as this theft ring targets pickleball shops nationwide.

Colorado, Las Vegas, Maryland ... where are they going next?

More than $30,000 worth of pickleball paddles were stolen from three stores in Denver, another $5,000 from a store in Las Vegas, and now 25-30 paddles totaling $4,000 were reportedly stolen from a store in Maryland.

"I'm just trying to figure out their end game of selling paddles that 'fell off the back of the truck.' I don't get it," says Tyler Bunch, the owner of Alpine Ski Shop in Fairfax city.

Owners are taking action

Besides locking up pickleball gear – which is now happening even at bigger sporting goods stores like Dick's, store owners are beginning to spread the word amongst each other through texts and sharing video footage of what and who to look out for.