A Montgomery man charged with stealing sports trading cards on two separate occasions from Target in Muncy Township will serve 6 to 24 months in state prison, Lycoming County Judge William Carlucci ruled Tuesday afternoon.

Stephen Thomas Naglak, 48, pleaded guilty to two counts of retail theft in November after he was charged with pilfering more than $3,800 worth of the trading cards from Target, located at 170 S. Lycoming Mall Road, between early November and early December 2023.

The first incident occurred on Nov. 4, when Naglak entered the store and “loaded numerous boxes of baseball trading cards into a shopping cart,” before exiting the store through a receiving door and loading the stolen merchandise into his Toyota, court documents said.

The amount stolen totaled $2,779, police said.

Naglak subsequently returned to the store on Dec. 7, and removed an additional $1,076 worth of trading cards from the store without paying, authorities said in court documents.

That same day, a man matching Naglak’s physical description and clothing worn during the Target heist attempted to steal $4,000 worth of sports trading cards at Walmart in Montoursville. No merchandise was taken, as the individual “ditched the cart he was using and fled through an emergency exit door,” court records stated.

Naglak has been implicated in the theft of sports trading cards at a Target in Lynchburg, Va. in October. It is unknown whether he was charged in this incident, however, as of Feb. 10, Naglak was listed as having an outstanding warrant for grand larceny: shoplifting out of Roanoke County.

Naglak “is a big sports card collector,” and “supported himself financially through the trading of sports cards,” a county probation officer told investigators, an affidavit stated.

At the time of his arrest, Naglak was on probation in Union County, following an August 2022 plea of no contest to a count of recklessly endangering another person. A state prison sentence of up to two years was later imposed in the case in April 2024, according to court documents.

“This case came about because of a drug issue,” defense attorney George Lepley told Carlucci during the sentencing hearing.

Naglak, who appeared by video from SCI – Rockview, was self-medicating at the time of his crimes as a result of having twice suffered a broken back. He also suffers from neuropathy in both feet, Lepley said.

Since being incarcerated, Naglack has graduated from an intense four month drug rehabilitation program, Naglak said.

Lepley and Deputy Assistant District Attorney Phoebe Yates had a meeting of minds in asking the judge to set Naglak’s sentence at the bottom of the standard range, only disagreeing over whether his sentence should run concurrent to other charges for which he’s currently serving.

“He’s picked up a number of cases across multiple counties in recent years, and he should have to pay for each one,” Yates told Carlucci.

Since 2022, Naglak has been charged with DUI in Dauphin and Snyder counties, as well as retail theft and receiving stolen property in the latter, court documents said.

Carlucci ultimately ordered Naglak to serve his sentences consecutively.

He was additionally ordered to pay restitution to Target in the amount of $2,779.28, as it was unclear how many of the stolen cards had been recovered.

At the close of the hearing, Naglak requested that cards from his own personal collection seized by police be returned to his wife or his mother.

These cards would be easily recognizable, as they would be in both hard and soft sleeves and binders, whereas most of the stolen cards were unopened and/or in their original packaging, Naglak said.

He may file a motion for return of property in order to secure their release, Carlucci advised.