An Arizona man has been jailed and fired from his job at McDonald’s for allegedly trafficking stolen Pokemon Happy Meal cards.
Pokemon cards are back at McDonald’s and trainers everywhere are trying to collect ’em all, but sadly, some are looking to nefariously cash in on the craze.
Unlike mainline Pokemon cards, the McDonald’s ones aren’t exactly the most valuable of the bunch – but some can still sell for a pretty penny, fetching anywhere from $3 to $10 a pop.
Now, according to a report from The Gila Hearld, 32-year-old Troy Partin was arrested after an officer at a traffic stop discovered stolen Pokemon cards in his vehicle.
Man jailed and fired from McDonald’s over stolen Pokemon cards
The report says that an officer noticed that Partin failed to stop at a stop sign and pulled him over. Soon after, the cop learned that he didn’t have a license on him, but was on his way to see a friend and get some food money.
After searching the car, the officer found a box containing 200 packages of Pokemon cards stamped with the McDonald’s logo worth around $120.
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Partin claimed he had purchased the cards and planned to sell them to a “buddy,” but the officer discovered that he was actually employed by McDonald’s.
Once the restaurant informed police that the cards had in fact been stolen, the jig was up and Partin’s employment was terminated.
Partin was charged with theft and trafficking in stolen property and was booked into the Graham County Adult Detention Facility. He was already on probation for drug-related charges.
This is hardly the first Pokemon card-related crime of 2022. So far this year we have seen a $500,000 collection stolen in a heist, a man robbed at gunpoint in France, and even a high-speed police chase.