Pokemon Cards Lead Police To Bombing Suspect
Pokemon cards helped police catch a bombing suspect in Maryland.
Believe it or not, Pokemon Trading Cards have a history of helping law enforcement solve crimes, and in the latest instance of Pokemon–related crime cases, the enduring popularity of these cards has played a pivotal role in solving a series of bombings in Aberdeen, Maryland. In an unforeseen twist of events, Pokemon cards provided Aberdeen police with significant clues in an investigation that led to the arrest of the suspected bomber.
According to Kotaku, a man suspected of building and detonating multiple explosives in Maryland, 34-year-old Jeremiah E. Burnette, was arrested by the police after they connected some Pokemon cards found at the scene to the suspect. The discovery of the cards in the aftermath of one explosion proved to be the breakthrough lead law enforcement was looking for following several detonations of numerous illegal M80 explosives that shook the otherwise serene Aberdeen.
Maryland policed worked tirelessly to uncover those responsible for these explosions but to no avail. However, the investigation took an unexpected turn when Pokemon cards were found at the most recent bomb site.
We still don’t know whether the cards were left as a sort of a “calling card” left by some of the biggest pop-culture villains at their respective crime scenes, but it’s most likely that the perpetrator unknowingly dropped them. We must admit that leaving a Pokemon card as a calling card doesn’t really scream “villainy.”
Fortunately, one of the officers in the Aberdeen police force connected the dots; he remembered Burnette from a previous, unrelated arrest, during which the suspect had a stack of Pokemon cards on his person.
The police quickly secured a search warrant for Burnette’s residence, after which the Harford County Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team raided Burnette’s home, finding additional Pokemon cards, further strengthening their case against Burnette, who confessed to the crimes under questioning.
Following the arrest on June 13, the suspect was released after posting a $10,000 personal unsecured bond, and though no injuries or fatalities resulted from his explosive actions, he still faces legal charges, as he posed a threat to the public.
Burnette’s alleged actions, while potentially dangerous and fatal, accentuate the far-reaching influence of the Pokemon franchise, which encompasses video games, anime series, mobile gaming, and Pokemon cards— it would seem that “Gotta Catch’ Em All” refers to more than just capturing virtual creatures in a video game.
This isn’t the first time Pokemon cards made the news. The cards are extremely popular among players, while certain, extremely rare cards are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to collectors.
The increasing price of Pokemon cards made them into a new investment vehicle, prompting a craze that sometimes resulted in violence and public safety concerns. As a result, it isn’t all that uncommon for retailers to pull the cards from shelves, especially following cases such as a parking lot shooting and instances of physical violence over the cards.
Besides being used to solve crimes, Pokemon cards were also used to commit quite a few, including a murder of a man in the UK—he was beaten to death using a bag filled with tins of Pokemon cards.
