A man accused of causing explosions has been recently arrested in Aberdeen, Maryland, and a trail of Pokemon TCG cards was part of the reason why he was caught. It’s not hard to find stories of people who steal Pokemon TCG cards, but this is the first time that the police actually used them to arrest someone involved in a different crime.
Pokemon TCG is one of the most popular card games around, together with others such as Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh. The game was originally released back in 1998 and had countless expansions since then, adding more cards as new games of the franchise appear with more Pokemon. Now, it seems, the love of one man for the game was also his downfall.
The police department of Aberdeen has recently arrested Jeremiah E. Burnette for setting off multiple explosions in his neighborhood. Curiously, law enforcement was only able to catch him because one of the craters left after the explosion was packed with Pokemon TCG cards. Coincidentally, some officers arrested Burnette just a few days before the event, and they remembered that he was carrying several Pokemon cards with him, which made him a key suspect. After he was caught, Burnette admitted to detonating the explosives, which were illegally manufactured M-80s.
According to the local police, Burnette was not affiliated with any terrorist group and did not give any actual reason for why he committed the crime. Strangely, it seems that leaving the cards on the scene was not really a signature, but more of a mistake. Burnette, who already paid $10,000 in bail and was released after the arrest, complained to a reporter that people were calling him “Pokebomber” online due to how the events unfolded.
This is far from the only crime involving Pokemon cards, though, as they are a more common occurrence than most people would think. Recently, a man accused of stealing 1,500 Pokemon cards was arrested in Tokyo, for example. He was reportedly promised 1 million yen (around $7,000) for the crime, but his employer never showed up to pay.
An even worse case happened back in March when criminals stole $1 million worth of Pokemon cards as well as other collectibles in Burbank, California. This time, a hobby store was attacked and completely ransacked by a trio of thieves. They were not arrested, however, despite one man’s face appearing in a video during the successful heist.
Source: CBS News