Man charged with responding to ads, stealing anime trading cards at gunpoint on Chicago's Southwest Side

A man stood charged Thursday with holding up five men at gunpoint after luring them by offering to buy anime cards on online marketplaces.

Anthony Garcia, 23, was charged with five counts of armed robbery with a firearm. He was to appear for a detention hearing in Cook County Criminal Court Thursday.

He is accused of responding to ads for anime trading cards on a social media marketplace, luring the would-be sellers into a building lobby when they arrived, and stealing the cards at gunpoint.

All the robberies happened in the 5200 or 5300 block of South Kedzie Avenue in the Gage Park neighborhood, near where Garcia lives.

One robbery happened Tuesday, March 17, a second on Saturday, March 27, a third on Sunday, March 28, and three more on Monday, March 29.

The victims were all men between the ages of 19 and 29.

Garcia was arrested by the Chicago police Citywide Robbery Task Force on Tuesday in the 5300 block of South Troy Street, police said.

Police said anyone selling or buying items from a social media marketplace can always complete the transaction at a police station.