Rockville police are searching for the perpetrators of a $4,500 pickleball paddling robbery

After taking over tennis courts, restaurants and celebrities from Tom Brady to Bill Gates, the pickleball boom has reached a new frontier: retail crime.

As first reported by local blogger Robert DyerRockville City Police are investigating a report of a theft of pickleball rackets on April 26 from a store in the 800 block of Rockville Pike.

Washingtonian contacted Marco Impeduglia, the store owner, who said about $4,500 worth of rackets were lifted from his Tennis Topia.

“We didn’t notice because we were really busy, and then the next day we realized we hadn’t sold as many paddles,” Impeduglia said Washingtonian.

In an April 30 report from the Rockville City Police Department, the suspects are described as two white women and a white man, all with “dark” or “darker” skin color.

Impeduglia noted that the paddles – mainly from the Joola brand – This starts at $159.95 on the Tennis Topia website– was recently outdated as Joola had just launched a new line.

“It stinks because people would have bought them at the end of the day, but we’re fine,” Impeduglia said.

Impeduglia also said Tennis Topia isn’t the only store nationwide that has had rackets stolen in recent months. Last month, The Las Vegas Review Journal reported Police investigated the theft of thousands of dollars worth of rackets from the Game Set match in Las Vegas.

Thieves reportedly stole $30,000 worth of rackets from the shelves of three Game Set Match locations in Colorado in February. CBS News Colorado reported.

Although there is currently no evidence that the robberies are related, Impeduglia, whose businesses are not affiliated with Game Set Match, wondered if there was a connection. “It seems like they’re working their way across the country,” he said.

Rockville City police did not immediately return Washingtonians Please comment.