Man Sentenced For Using Company Money to Buy More than $140,000 of Pokémon Cards, Gaming Items
by
August 21, 2025
34-year-old Mitch William Gross of Iowa was sentenced on August 24 to four months in federal prison. His crime? Wire fraud. More specifically, he used company money to buy more than $140,000 worth of Pokémon cards and other gaming items.
Gross was working for Ruan Transportation Corporation, and the company had business-related credit cards. However, in the course of a little over a year, he used those credit cards for his own expenses. Not wanting to get found out, he lied on his paperwork to make it seem as if the money were being spent properly.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Des Moines Police Department worked together to figure out what was going on and get Gross in front of a judge.
Gross isn’t just going to prison. He has to pay back $146,590.15 for all the company’s money he stole. And once he’s out of prison, he’ll be serving a three-year term of supervised release.
Unfortunately, crime related to Pokémon cards is not unheard of. This summer, for instance, someone stole more than $113,000 of rare Pokémon cards at 1st Edition Collectibles in New Bedford, in Massachusetts. Thieves with hammers have broken into more than one Michigan store to steal thousands of dollars worth of Pokémon cards. Yakuza allegedly sometimes use the cards as a way of money laundering. And there have even been crimes related to the cards that spawned violence, including fatal violence.
Thankfully, there are also happier stories of being using Pokémon for fun and friendship, like this Pokémon-themed wedding for a couple who met because of the franchise, this joke about Popplio and Pope Leo (that the pope actually seemed to like) and doctors comforting patients while wearing medical attire with Pokémon designs. There’s even this newly-discovered extinct whale that reminded at least one scientist of Pokémon.
Source: United States Attorney’s Office Southern District of Iowa
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.