According to reports by WECT News, a local news outlet in North Carolina, USA, a 36-year-old American man was arrested for allegedly stealing approximately $21,000 worth of Pokémon trading cards. Although the suspect has already formally confessed to the crime, because the case also involved drug possession and armed kidnapping, the court ultimately sentenced him to 10 to 14 years in prison under a plea agreement.
Since its launch in the late 1990s in European and American markets, the Pokémon Trading Card Game has been one of the most important products under Nintendo’s Pokémon brand. As the series approaches its 30th anniversary this year, The Pokémon Company has also announced the release of a “30th Anniversary Expansion Pack” this September, featuring reprint versions of classic cards including the original Charizard and more.
However, the Pokémon card market has long since developed into a highly mature and massive trading ecosystem. Some rare cards—whether limited new cards with extremely low draw rates or classic vintage cards—can often fetch good prices at auction as long as they receive high grades in quality assessment. Unfortunately, this has also attracted many illegal operators.
According to a report from the Superior Court of New Hanover County, North Carolina, USA, a local video game and card shop called “Video Game Time” experienced a theft in January 2026. Police promptly launched a large-scale investigation, identified the suspect through surveillance footage as 36-year-old Joseph Trevor Wilson from Wilmington, and ultimately arrested him during a traffic stop.
However, during this traffic stop, police also found a BB gun, cocaine, and drug-related paraphernalia in the suspect’s car. Not only that, they also found a notebook belonging to the suspect, discovering that he had drawn a “Poké Ball” symbol on the date of the crime in his calendar, and marked the next day with the word “payday” — all of which became powerful evidence for the prosecution’s conviction. In addition to this robbery, Joseph Zhong also confessed to charges including second-degree kidnapping and drug possession as part of his plea agreement.
In the investigation report, the prosecution revealed that Joseph first disguised himself as a customer to enter the store, then attacked the employee with pepper spray, bound the victim with zip ties, brandished a weapon to threaten them, and stole a large quantity of Pokémon cards, cash, and a mobile phone before fleeing by car. According to Joseph’s own confession, he committed the crime under coercion from two men due to debts he owed, and police later successfully recovered some of the stolen cards in Fayetteville, approximately 145 kilometers away from Wilmington.
In recent years, Pokémon card-related crimes have continued to occur frequently. For example, in June this year, a card shop called The Card Lab in California, USA was also broken into by thieves, who stole $15,000 worth of cards within 36 seconds before driving away from the scene. In May this year, there was also a case in Florida, USA where a man broke into a local card shop while wielding a chainsaw.
Due to the ongoing severe scalping and price gouging issues in the Pokémon card market, The Pokémon Company has been rolling out new measures to combat these problems in recent years. For instance, starting May 31 of this year, The Pokémon Company has implemented a complete ban on selling third-party graded cards, Pokémon Center Japan exclusives, and other high-value collectibles at official Pokémon card-related events, aiming to reduce speculation and illegal trading.
Source: KOCPC Chinese