When it comes to being a sports card scammer, Kevin Burge can do it all.
The Mooresville, North Carolina dealer has been accused of forging autographs, faking patch cards, and trimming cards as far back as 2003.
In addition to the card doctoring, Burge has 35 documented criminal arrests or citations.
Burge is suspected of trimming this 1993 Upper Deck Sp Derek Jeter rookie card that sold for $73,000 by PWCC in September 2018.
Trimmed - Sold for $73,000
A 2003-04 Up Authentic Lebron James autograph is believed to be trimmed by Burge and sold for $11,600 by PWCC in June 2017.
Trimmed - Sold for $11,600
There are a litany of complaints on various sports card forums about Burge including Beckett, Freedom Cardboard, Collectors Universe, and Blowout chronicling his scams.
He's used a variety of eBay names over the years and also goes by the business name Pristine Sports Collectibles.
Highlights of his sports card scams:
5-7-2008 - eBay ID shoeless-joejackson - queencity-sportscards = Kevin Burge The worst seller
7-28-2009 - Meet Kevin Burge AKA ShoelessJoe at The National
11-21-2008 - QUEENCITY-SPORTSCARDS & other forgers/alterers ~UPDATE~
10-1-2009 - NEW SCAM: 2001 Pujols Chrome Fakes Spotted At Philly Show
10-22-2009 - GAI Has Made A Deal With The Devil
10-28-2009 - Yet another scam to be aware of in the hobby
1-8-2010 - A Good Reason Not To Trust PSA Or Any Auto Authentication Service
1-20-2010 - Kevin Burge Tries To Elude Recognition, Fails
2-15-2011 - SELLER ALERT: queencity-sportscards
1-31-2018 - Anyone know ebay user “eagles2009champ”?
9-18-2018 - What ever happened to Kevin Burge?
4-9-2019 - Bill Sliheet & Superior Sports Investments Selling Trimmed via PWCC (Kevin Burge too)
4-24-2019 - BUYER BEWARE: Trimmed PSA-10 2000 Stadium Club Derek Jeter Co-Signers on Ebay
5-19-2019 - At Least 2/4 1993 SP PSA 10 Jeters Sold by PWCC are Likely Trimmed
Kevin Burge mug shot
The only thing longer than Burge’s rap sheet in the sports card world is his actual arrest record.
Burge has been cited or arrested over 35 times.
Highlights of his arrest record include:
5/11/1998
ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON
11/03/1999
DRIVING WHILE IMPAIRED
4/08/2004
URINATE IN PUBLIC
9/06/2005
DRIVING WHILE IMPAIRED
1/24/2016
DISORDERLY CONDUCT PUBLIC BLDG
SECOND DEGREE TRESPASS
1/15/2019
ASSAULT BY STRANGULATION
CHILD ABUSE
7/2/2019
VIOLATION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PO
In the sports card world, people like Burge are still welcome at industry events. He is listed as an attendee of the 2018 Beckett Industry Summit.
The card industry trimmers and scammers stick together.
Also listed as a Beckett Industry Summit attendee is Keith Koenig, an associate of Burge. Koenig has been known to buy cards for Burge, who then trims them.
Both Koenig and Burge have a connection with known card trimmer Steven Tormollan.
Steven 'InstaTrimmer' Tormollan
At large sports card shows the card trimmers will often be seen together.
Here are Burge (left) Vinny Ho (center), and Koenig (right) at the Cleveland National.
Ho was found selling two trimmed cards using two different eBay accounts, avsports888 and tonkabearbrons23.
A forum user commented of the image of the card trimmers, "they look like the Dollar Tree cardboard version of The Hangover."
Most
WANTED
Card Trimmers
CARD TRIMMER
Superior Sports Investments
a.k.a "SSI"
a.k.a "Bill Sliheet"
a.k.a "Nate Nichols"
Dallas, TX
Case Details
CARD TRIMMER
Eric Bitz
a.k.a "BuyNiceCards"
a.k.a "BuyTrimmedCards"
Canonsburg, PA
Case Details
MORE NAMES COMING SOON!
