Iowa man gets prison time after buying $140K worth of Pokémon cards on his employer’s dime

He got caught trying to catch ’em all.

An Iowa man will spend the next four months in federal prison on a wire fraud conviction after racking up over $140,000 on his company credit card for Pokémon cards, gaming items, and other illicit charges.

Mitch William Gross, 34, used the plastic issued by his employer, Ruan Transportation Corporation, to fund the personal spending spree that also included prepaid gift card purchases, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

Gross attempted to obscure his crimes by submitting falsified receipts and mischaracterizing fraudulent charges on his expense reports so they appeared as legitimate business expenses.

After serving out his prison term, Gross will be placed on supervised release for three years and on the hook for $146,590.15 in restitution.

The incident isn’t the first time Pokémon cards brought out the worst in people, including criminal behavior.

In January, a California Costco became the scene of a brawl as a crowd of grown adults threw punches and elbows in an effort to snag boxes of a special set of 151 Blooming Waters Premium Collection packs.

The cards originally retailed for $120 to $150, but the discount retailer was selling them for $60 apiece.

Just last month, a thief snatched over $100,000 worth of rare Pokémon cards from a small shop in Massachusetts, using a hammer to smash open a display case. No arrests have been made.

Pokémon – short for pocket monsters – skyrocketed in popularity in 1996, after its launch as a pair of video games in Japan.

The tiny monsters later became available as trading cards, and have since appeared in animated series and movies, as well as figurines – especially its most famous character, Pikachu, the yellow mouse-like figure with red cheeks that can shoot lightning when angry.

The most expensive Pokémon card ever sold fetched $5.275 million in 2022, purchased by YouTuber turned boxer Logan Paul.