from Rob Rossi of The Athletic,

The previous day, a shipment of 19,000 Jaromir Jagr bobbleheads had not arrived in Pittsburgh as scheduled. Acklin remained calm, having no reason to believe there was any foul play involved. A trucking company representative in California said the bobbleheads would be in Pittsburgh the next day by 5 p.m.

“Initial word is the truck driver was having some engine trouble — that they had to pause overnight and it’ll be OK,” said Acklin, the Penguins’ president of business operations.

The time came and went, and still no delivery. While watching the Penguins-Senators game from his Pittsburgh home, Acklin received another call from the trucking company. There was no engine trouble. The bobbleheads had been stolen.

“They said, ‘Well, we don’t know all the details, but apparently the trucking company is in touch with’ — and this is the first time I heard the word — ‘the extortionists.’”

By then, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, a California-based trucking company and a Hong Kong vendor were all pursuing the people who’d stolen the merchandise.

“They weren’t sure how they were lifted, but they were in touch with a group that has custody of them,” Acklin said.

And to verify the group had the goods and to determine whether to negotiate, Acklin said, the trucking company had to see if the bobbleheads “were still viable.”

“We’re dealing with a theft that sounds crazy,” Acklin said. “It felt like a story from ‘The Onion.’ When you tell it, it’s like an ‘Onion’ article.”

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