I've always thought of Pokémon cards as a fun hobby for kids. Apparently I was wrong as a man has been accused of stealing $12,000 worth of these cards from a Missouri business.

I first saw this story shared by Yahoo News. It's based on reporting from St. Louis TV stations KMOV and Fox 2 St. Louis. According to all these reports, this theft dates back to October of 2021. They say that a 24-year-old man named Nicholas Garrison from Oklahoma entered a Crestwood, Missouri store after hours where he allegedly broke the display glass and grabbed 270 Pokémon cards which collectively added up to just over $12,000.

The Yahoo News report says that police found blood in the store that matched that of Garrison. They report that he did admit to police that he entered the store and took the cards "because he needed money".

As unique as this incident appears, it's not unique at all. Just 6 months prior, there was another robbery in Minnesota of over a quarter million dollars of these cards.

But, this Pokémon series of thefts isn't all bad news. A few years ago, a young boy had his cards stolen only to have a police officer gift him his.

The theme song for Pokémon has been "Gonna Catch 'Em All". Who would have thought that the catching would involve alleged thieves. Thanks again 2022 for being you.