BREAKING NEWS! Hero Restoration Owner Mike DeChellis ARRESTED For $300,000 Of Comic Book Theft!
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- In this video I talk the recent BREAKING NEWS about Hero Restoration. It turns out the police arrested the owner Mike DeChallis in Oregon yesterday. Mike was a comic book cleaner presser restorer that stole hundreds of thousands of dollars and maybe millions in inventory. The saga started last year and it looks like we may finally find closure.
Hope you guys enjoy the video
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#comics #comicbooks #crime
The CGC Board has some members that were very diligent in getting this done. Bravo to them.
now lets see the board address the slabbing controversies of late.
@@xenaluck We'll see, but the Board isn't CGC...they can get some things done...
@@xenaluck We are, and people are quite vocal on it. The thinking so far is it's 1975-present (aka Modern submissions) is problematic and features the most warped/damaged books (pre-1975 is less affected, as are large book submitters, mainly big pressers and dealers, say they have not been impacted). The CGC serial numbers to look out for are anything from 437 series or higher.
For once, those idiots are starting to clean up their act!!! 🤔
@@jamesortiz3425 Well, not really. This investigating into warped books is just members of the boards, not CGC themselves.
Legit - CGC should consider a Dechalis Victim Pedigree, it will be infamous in the space for decades
Yes, might even help improve the value to how crazy this has been. My heart goes about to these people.
This has been an INSANE saga, from ghosting people, to COVID/heart attacks, to threatening legal action against victims, to DUI, to selling customers' books, to "break ins" at his "LCS." Glad to hear there may be justice done and victims have some closure.
No kidding. I've been following this for a while on the CGC forums and was about to cancel my RUclips TV subscription because the drama was wilder than anything on tv.
That's what I can't understand about this video. Saying, "Life happens" "He had anxiety" "He had life issues". Stop with all of the excuses for this scumbag thief. If he was so overwhelmed he could have simply returned the books, and the money he charged up front, not defraud, lie and steal. Thief who deserves jail time.
I will never mail my comic books to a stranger.
I don't seem to mind. They come back graded, which is nice.
Yipes! I had used Hero Restoration in the past and was going to use them on my JiM 83 which I wanted turned from a purple label to. Blue. Thankfully, when I was ready to move forward with it some sketchyness was starting to surface so I went with Phantom Restoration who did a terrific job. Bullet dodged. My heart goes out to the poor people who were affected.
Phil is a prodigy in the conservation world. Excellent choice 👍
Absolutely disgusting...the dude had built up all that trust and just threw it all away.
That's what long-term thieves do, though. They work to build trust so they can steal more later once they have built trust.
@@samuelcatoe1927 it is sick.
This guy is a perfect case of
Hero turning villain
i'll be surprised if he's the last.
More like a villain restoration!
NAILED IT bro!!!
This is why i haven't sent my books to get pressed, i don't trust them.
Magic pressing is who I use he is on IG
Pressing and cleaning is easy to learn, it just takes patience and a critical eye.
@@Just_Pele maybe ill look into it. I've got an ASM 300 that i want to do. But ill try on cheaper books first
I remember, Comic Tom endorsing, this guy’s business.
No comments at all from Tom on this issue.
This is absolutely insane! I never knew about this situation before then and this blows my mind! To think someone would not only steal someone’s money, but ruin their books too! Hope the owners of the books are able to get some compensation.
THAT is why I learned how to press and clean my own comics. I don't trust strangers with my high dollar comics.
This is what’s great about being a Bronze Age collector. I don’t have any high dollar comics.
Oh man, sad news. I used to use him 4 years ago. Talked to him many times. Always did a great job and we got all of our comics back.
things went down hill for him fast and his clients, bad decisions, bad luck and didnt own up to it.
Inflation
I used Mike once .. Captain America Comics #77. Standard clean and press about five years ago. I got the book back with no drama at all. I count myself very lucky.
Aumsville is my hometown, lol. It’s still my homebase when I’m back in Oregon 😐
Thank you Swagglhaus for doing a video on this story and making people aware of the situation. 🙏
This just as Bad as trying to re slap a Book for a Higher Grade !!! 😢😢😢
AOL mail? I thought I was the only one left! 😂
Lol I saw AOL and was like is that still a thing.
I got aol mail 😂😂😂😂
I still have aol mail lol
Hey, I still got my AOL. 😂😂😂
Me too!
Stole millions! Only located $300K. Unfortunately, many will never get their money back. I would recommend victims go after the comic book store mentioned that purchased the books. I am pretty sure the comic shop knows what they were purchasing and what was happening.
Does anyone know the store that was purchasing them?
The 300K does not include the 200k I managed to get returned to customers before he went completely insane and fled, and that was just returned property not cash - all the money paid to him was completely lost so all these numbers should be MUCH higher.
@@eddieruminski4098 what do you think he did with the comics?
@@bandoogiemanz I'm not sure I understand what you are asking. Which comics?
If by store who purchased the comics you mean the cosigner on MyComicShop, then you are very misinformed and inciting victims to go after the wrong person. That seller has been a trusted user for years which MCS looked closely at when these allegations emerged, and when it came to light they did in fact purchase stolen books they pulled them from sale and handed them all over to the detectives. The buyer of the books was just another victim in all this. We know Mike used other people to move the comics, so anyone buying stolen customer books were not necessarily dealing with Mike himself (except in case where he was listing them on his ebay account or offering them for sale directly through his own phone/texts)
Simple solution to all these secondary market scammers like CGC and hero: dont mail your comics to people, unless they're buying them from you.
I think the most surprising part of this story is that people can still be arrested in Oregon! I didn't think that ever happened anymore....
Lmaooooooo
Hm just like a certain orange person trying to get away with crimes.🤔 Luckly in New York, Georgia, and Washington DC they hold people accountable.😁
Thank goodness New York, Georgia, and Washington DC still charge people with crimes.😁
Good call😂
@@Quasi_Terrible Thank goodness New York, Georgia, and Washington DC still charge people for crimes.😁
8:19 made me fall out of my chair out of horror and cringe. Then at 9:17 I had to grab another beer to get through this pain, What a nightmare!
Sending your high value comics to someone anywhere near portland is insanity. Even if the person is honest which is a crapshoot in portland theres such a high risk of it being stolen in transit there.
Thank God I am a procrastinator and I easily get distracted. I was going to send them my Incredible Hulk 181 and other key books and then have them sent to CGC. So glad I saw this.
Hero Restoration had an Oregon location and a New Jersey location, and both had several employees. This was NOT a one-man show. They were known for three things:
1) quality work, often on high-end books
2) LONG lead-times; it would take ages to get books back to customers. I dropped books off in person at the NJ location, and by the time they were sent for grading, I had to double check what I’d even sent them.
3) high pricing. I still have never paid more for pricing than I paid Hero. They were easily 2x-3x$ the competition.
Weird. Maybe he got the "my treasure" (Golum) syndrome and end up thinking the comics were his. 😮
The sad part of those old action comics is nobody was bothering to archive all the strips that didn't feature superman.
I collected for 40 years. When it came time to sell I looked around the internet for the best way to sell my possessions.. After seeing popular individuals praise his work I thought why not give it a try. Well I was one of the lucky ones that got their books returned. I lost out on all the fees I prepaid for though. I hope he gets the help he needs.
Thank you for posting this video. While I did get my comics back after a year I am out $6K for payments made. Misfortune can hit us all but this guy was outright corrupt. Mike took the joy out of the hobby for so many. It makes it hard to trust when you have people like this in the comics industry.
I'm glad that some form of justice is being served, but still unfortunate for so many people who trusted this person with their cherished comics. Hopefully they can get most of them back. Now I'm just waiting on my comics/refund from Frankie's Comics from 2 years ago.😡
Thank you for sharing this story - DeChellis will ultimately go to prison; it’s sad that his poor conduct will affect trust in the overall restoration, conservation, cleaning and pressing community. Lots of solid people in that space who did/do great work. Thanks again.
I don't trust people. That's why I don't send my comics for grading.
I had issues with Hero Restoration a couple years ago and had to fight with their accounting department to get partial refunds. None of my books came back in better grades and they submitted regular track to CGC but charged me for Fast Track.
Villain restoration
I bet the cops smoked the books.
I have been dealing with hero restoration for more than 5 years and the last submission which I did receive back but only after continuous contact which he explained somebody that works for him had passed away and now will be dissolving the business. The story is surprising but not shocking. Everybody in the end gets what they deserve. Just sad
So how could a book go from good to worse1?! Seems to me this guy was a fraud and actually
didnt really know how to restore comics!
Unfortunately he is only being charged with $300,000... so he may not be looking at any real time here if he has no priors.
Even though the total damages of $300k are not the full story, the charges against him are numerous (and public, so you can look those up) and this is far from the first time he has been arrested.
Looking at what happened with those Action Comics is absolutely heartbreaking. I actually had a visceral reaction to it lol!
Thanks for the info I just called up the department
Thanks for the video - I was not aware of this situation. I am not aware most of the time though!
Just a quick comment, I can’t imagine sending a valuable book to anyone. I think I would be an in- person only customer. I wish everyone could be trusted, but as this shows, this not the case! Thanks again for the great video
I dropped my books off in person with a rep for Hero at a local NJ show in August of 2022. They had the Oregon location and a NJ location listed on their site. I thought my books would be worked on in NJ, but they were actually mailed to Mike in Oregon. I finally got my books back, around a year later (some not even worked on, or others not done that well) but it was an ordeal, to say the least. I'm really sorry for those that lost a lot of money or still haven't gotten their books back. Terrible situation.
No way those are the same books. Are they sure the guy didn't swap the original books with some crappy copies? Damn, that's horrible regardless.
Damn…I got nothing else.
Dang. That’s crazy and sad to hear!!
If thats his restoration i can imagine what the clean and press looked like. Holy shit man.
In Oregon, he is already back home…
I know theyre are reputable people doing pressing and restoration. If i have something like a xmen #1 or any major key worth a ton of money, im sending to cgc. No disrespect to others in the pressing restoration service industry. But this is scary stuff
Such drama. But this is really sad on all fronts. Comics are so important to those of us who love them and it would be so harmful for this to happen
Such a terrible shame. I recall the early IG posts that really had some incredible work and his association (which ended well over a year ago I believe) with Comic Tom. But now all those results etc... it has to all be called into question. Really got bad.
It's not easy to find someone that restores books, unless you live in a lucky place. In Oregon, Hero is just about the only place you can find. The only comic shop I know that does cleaning/repair is Fallout comics (oregon) and he is just starting out doing that stuff.
I've used Hero in the past. Was a few years back thou.
Dude I was gonna send some books to hero. Some RUclipsr with a good rep actually recommended hero to me 😬 he prob didn’t suspect anything too.
I’m so nervous sending books to ANY
Scammers everywhere smh
I'm fortunate because he wound up finally pressing my book and sending to CGC. But it took me reaching out however many months back that was. He had my ultimate fallout 4. Said health problems caused him to fall behind. ComicTom may have gotten screwed too
I went through something similar in 2021. After 2 or 3 months of no updates, I became the guy who called every other day until I finally got through. I even spoke to Mike personally and told him, 'Mike, it was radio silence. Every call went straight to voicemail, which was always full, so I couldn’t even leave a message. You have tens of thousands of dollars' worth of my comics.' He acted like I was overreacting. Fortunately, they eventually sent my items to CGC, and I did get them back, but that took another 3 months-thanks to CGC's delays. The comics included Hulk 181, ASM 300, Werewolf by Night 32, Marvel Spotlight 5, and a few other heavy hitters. That was the first and final straw for me, and I stopped using Hero Restoration. Seeing this, I’m really glad I did stop using them and not that surprised about the thieving accusations. Feel sorry for the folks he stole from.
ComicTom may have gotten screwed too - lol, if you believe that, I've got an avengers 1 cgc 10.1 to sell you.
The only time i send my books to other people, is when i am selling them.
The Hulk at 7.0? Not sure about that one…bit of a stretch.
more of a dislocation than a stretch lol. . .anyone grading that a F/VF is not someone I would buy a graded book from holy toledo! & how in the H E double hockey sticks could anyone believe that could ever be a 9.6?!?!
4.0 at BEST.
I think this is the guy I called in 2021 to talk about pressing some books and he told me he was just to busy and couldn’t do it. I was going to try to get an eternals 1 9.4 pressed. Lol omg. I’m sad think about. Thank god I still have that book lol Dam lol
People really do love there books!!! Luv it
Anxiety? WTF these people and their bs mental health excuses
I ALMOST SENT MY BATMAN 227 to him last year!!!!!
Sorry for those who got hit with this scam. In nyc this dude would of gotten a desk appearance ticket or community service and released the same day 😂
Found you through sticky goose!
Sticky Goat
How do you restore a comic book?
Those two early Action Comics were totally ruined and that is a travesty.
Good luck with that multiple felinis accounts, that means Feloney a thon
I was fortunate to get my books back. I hounded him every day for months! Out the money but happy to get my books back. Wishing comic Tom put out an apology vid. Let me know if he did and I missed it. Cheers and good luck everyone
I first heard about hero restoration from one of the more well-known comic youtubers. Better be sure of who you vouch for. Seems like anybody can clean and press comics nowadays. There's always someone out there to steal your money.
Damn I used to talk to him about books and almost sent them in!
Did his logo have an American flag?
I’m not surprised at all. After spending over nine years in the Middle East and observing the local views on Westerners, I can say with complete certainty that this outcome was expected. Stick to vendors with a proven track record of good business practices, preferably local ones. Look for vendors with overwhelmingly positive reviews, and always use common sense. Trust your instincts and stay alert.
He’s in cahoots with Mr. Glass
Remember that time you got scammed by a dude that was named Robert Mann does the name Robert Mann sound a lot like, robber man...
maybe people will see this and stop doin scammy scummy shenanigans this also proves why we need regulations/accreditations in ALL the collectible spaces
I bet he sold the Superman book and bought a garbage copy to replace it with.
Man, I'm so glad I never used his services. Granted, I do not have any significant books in my collection, lol. It's still very sobering.
With all the issues the comics community has faced, I have to wonder if it wouldn't be worth it for those servicing the book to get bonded. That way, should something go sideways, at least there is insurance.
Thanks for the video, sir!
He had insurance, as do all other professionals doing this. The issue is he changed his LLC several times over the past few years in some sort of legal shenanigans, and let the insurance lapse - even though he was stating he had it on his site and was assuring people the books were protected.
@eddieruminski4098 Thank you, I didn't know that.
Yeah I sent him and action comics 1. Who do I call bout that.
In theory, if I could afford any collectable for $43,000, I would leave it alone and let time and the long term investment take its course.
I will never in my life send a book to someone again . Had 2 so/so experiences and it soured me . Now this ? lol the book will be the grade it is from now on in my possession.
Good luck with that multiple felinis accounts, that means Feloney a thon-I actually spoke to this guy, and he sounded a little shady ISH
WTF?!?!?
Can someone explain to me how these Action Comics ultimately were graded "conserved" vs. "restored"? Huh??? They look they went through a meat grinder with significant amounts of color loss. Is CGC able to determine that the lack of color was the way the book looked like when they were raw and submitted for restoration the first time?.
Conservation does not mean it is back to how it was originally looked/printed, it simply means the books condition has been stabilized for handling and preservation so that any further degradation is stifled. If color touch was done to recolour the book then it would have been Restored (which concerns itself to returning an item to how it original looked, or better). Conservation also utilizes archive / museum safe materials which can be reversed if need be, whereas Restoration would use materials not recommended for long term preservation or poor in quality.
not the hero they were looking for.
Mic 🎤 Drop
Aol is still around? Does AOL know about that?
So glad that charlatan has finally been brought to account.
Hope he goes to prison. That's a lot of other people's money.
He’s been promoted on some RUclips comic channels during the pandemic. I wonder if they’ll comment on this.
Which RUclipsrs?
@@crossbronxcollectibles9127 Comictom101 is the only one I know of. I don't think there was any malice involved. He just promoted them a few times.
@@crossbronxcollectibles9127 Not sure about others, but I know Comic Tom used and promoted him.
@@crossbronxcollectibles9127 ComicTom for sure.
@@crossbronxcollectibles9127comic Tom , gem mint and a few others I believe
He cleaned and pressed like 100 books for me in 2020, all got crap grades I drove up to Oregon from San Diego and met him in his little shack
Am I seeing this right, Swag?! You actually still use AOL? I mean, Did AOL at the very least upgrade their network from Dial up to Ethernet or Wifi? lol
I use AOL for my email only, because the storage is unlimited and it's a free account. I'm able to pull up emails from 8 years ago. I have WiFi (through Comcast).
@@A100-ND Nice! 😊
Yikes. Your face in the thumbnail says it all
WTF
Ya can't trust anyone in this hobby today. Th golden geese of Disney, CGC, and pandy relief money, turned everyone into greedy little monsters. Maybe if you guys got laid every once in a while...
You hate to see it
Does Oregon have the electric chair ?????
It's called greed from all parties..... i would want nothing to do with those books 📚
Wait until next week it’ll be 150k worth.
Three months….25.00 bucks of comics.
But if he was trump……..zero dollars stole……my staff did it. What? Comic books in my bathroom? What?
I think comics is just old paper.
you do know there is colored ink and drawings also,
@@decojoker1 yes lol
@@Grrreeeeeeew sometimes the best way to respond to an idiot is by pretending to be one.
@@decojoker1 I'm an idiot! yes.
@@Grrreeeeeeew no you are actually right. we create the value like all the gold mined over the years, from underground, to be dug up smelted and reburied in vaults for safekeeping powerman #1 worth nothing Superman #1 millions we are just scared you are right. watch antique roadshow, how often do they say, "if you sold this before 2008...but now"
Ya I totally forgot this one, yikes🫠