Cop Arrested And Fired For Allegedly Stealing Pokemon Cards

An Alabama corrections officer was arrested and fired over the weekend for stealing Pokémon playing cards at a Walmart.

According to an article from Alabama information website Advance Local, which had a little bit of enjoyable with the headline “Gotta catch ‘em all?” Calhoun County corrections officer Josh Hardy was arrested on August 12 at 7 p.m. for attempting a five-finger Poké-discount by opening up multiple Pokémon card packs and swiping individual cards into his pocket within full view of a Walmart loss prevention employee. When Hardy was confronted over his act of theft, he fled the Oxford, Alabama store on foot, the news site reported.

Sometime after Walmart staff reported the crime to the Oxford Police, Hardy was found at a local restaurant with the stolen Pokémon cards still in his pockets, at which point he was arrested and charged with theft. To make matters all the more awkward, Hardy had committed the Pokécrime and was subsequently arrested while in uniform. Irony found dead.

“It is with great embarrassment that we have to report this incident, and Hardy has been terminated from the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office,” Calhoun County Sheriff Matthew Wade mentioned in an announcement to the general public. “He has tarnished our agency and the image of all law enforcement. As sheriff, I promised to be transparent and hold my staff accountable to a standard higher than average citizens.”

Read More: Men Simply Walk Away With $300,000 Of Stolen Magic: The Gathering Cards

Former Alabama corrections officer Hardy’s cartoonish card theft carefully follows one other peculiar buying and selling card game-related heist dedicated in broad daylight. Just final week at Gen Con, an annual tabletop gaming conference held on the Indiana Convention Center, a few thieves stole containers filled with Magic: The Gathering playing cards price an estimated $300,000.