Police Say One Man Stole $40,000 of Games and Equipment From Valve, Tried to Sell Games to GameStop

The suspect also led police on a chase while driving a stolen FedEx truck last year.

News by Mathew Olson, Reporter

Updated on 8 October 2019

Valve may make the bulk of its money selling digital copies of games through Steam, but its offices made an attractive target for a man who police say stole over $40,000 USD of games and other equipment from the company last year. Bellevue, Washington police say the burglar, 32-year-old Shawn Shaputis, tried to sell some of the stolen games at a nearby GameStop location.

As reported by Seattle-area news station KIRO 7, Shaputis' broke into Valve's Bellevue offices "four or five" times as part of a June 2018 crime spree to steal the goods in question. Police say Shaputis got the stolen games and equipment out of the building by placing them in a recycling bin and wheeling them back to his car. Additionally, police claim that a June 20, 2018 security video from a GameStop location about four miles away from Valve's office shows Shaputis attempting to sell some of the games to the retailer.

Shaputis was arrested on different burglary charges a week later, and then a second time on July 6, 2018 after stealing a FedEx truck in Bellevue. With the rears doors of the truck open and packages falling out, Shaputis led police on a chase out of Bellevue, across the Interstate 90 bridge, and into downtown Seattle before stopping. A witness told KIRO 7 that the chase "looked like something out of a movie."

Valve filed charges for the burglaries against Shaputis in September 2019, adding to six outstanding warrants. If Shaputis does not appear in court on Wednesday October 9, police will issue another warrant for his arrest.

Header image of Valve's offices via Valve's official site.

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Mathew Olson

Reporter

Mathew Olson is a writer formerly of Digg, where he blogged and reported about all things under the umbrella of internet culture (including games, of course). He lives in New York, grew up under rain clouds and the influence of numerous games studios in the Pacific Northwest, and will talk your ear off about Half-Life mods, Talking Heads or Twin Peaks if you let him.