This is possibly the most interesting special edition yoyo release ever.
Back in early 2014, a shipment of the General Yo M10 yoyos was sent out to YoYoExpert, and never arrived. That is an expensive box of aluminum to just go missing, and the tracking info showed that the package had been delivered to the building’s mail center. André Boulay (owner of YoYoExpert) and his team did some digging and found some of the yoyos being sold on eBay, and alerted police. Here’s the full story from a local paper on March 20, 2014:
Ralph Rivera, 34, and Sarah Kellogg, 30, both of 25 Muzzy St., pleaded innocent in Northampton District Court Tuesday to charges stemming from the theft of 28 yo-yos valued at a total of $1,787. Kellogg is charged with two counts of receiving stolen property and one count of larceny over $250, Rivera with one count of receiving stolen property and two of larceny over $250.
According to court documents, Easthampton police began investigating the yo-yo theft after Andre Boulay, the owner of YoYo Expert in the Eastworks building, reported that a package with some high-end yo-yos was stolen from the building’s mail center in December. Boulay told police the special yo-yos are only sold in two other stores in the U.S. He also reported that he had seen some of them for sale on eBay by someone with the screen name “hobmaster.”
Police identified “hobmaster” as Michael DesChenes, who owns a hobby shop in the eastern part of the state. When police visited DesChenes, he told them he had bought the yo-yos for $450 from a woman named Sarah and another man who had come to his store. He subsequently identified “Sarah” from police photos as Kellogg and her companion as Rivera.
When police spoke to Kellogg about the incident, she allegedly admitted selling the yo-yos to DesChenes but said she took the box from a friend she identified only as “Jessie.”
Kellogg told investigators she was driving Jessie to purchase drugs, according to court documents. When he exited the car, she spotted the box of yo-yos. Because Jessie owed her $80, Kellogg said, she took the box. Kellogg told police that she and Rivera sold the yo-yos to get money for groceries and to pay bills.
2014? Yep. This has been dragging out for that long. But now the case has FINALLY been resolved, and the police have finally released the yoyos back to YoYoExpert. So, after a trip to the engravers, this batch of M10s has been properly marked as EVIDENCE and will be available at YoYoExpert on Wednesday, March 23rd. If you like a good story with your yoyo, you aren’t going to find a better one.