Pokémon go to jail: Trading cards lead to explosives suspect, Maryland fire marshal says

With an assist from Detective Pikachu, authorities in Maryland solved the mystery of loud booms shaking a neighborhood in Harford County.

Pokémon trading cards helped police find a suspect in a series of explosions in Aberdeen in recent weeks, according to the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

Police received a report of a loud explosion in the area of South Rogers and James streets at about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to the fire marshal’s office. People had been hearing late-night explosions in the area since mid-May.

Officers found a crater near woods littered with Pokémon cards, the fire marshal’s office said.

One of the officers had arrested a 34-year-old man days earlier, the fire marshal’s office said. He had a stack of Pokémon cards with him.

The same day of that arrest, Aberdeen police received a report from someone whose argument with the suspect ended with the suspect saying, “Boom,” the fire marshal’s office said. A few days later, that citizen found a Pokémon card on his front step.

Packages of Pokémon cards and other evidence connecting him to the explosions were found during a search of the suspect’s home, and police arrested him, the fire marshal’s office said.

The suspect confessed to blowing up devices described as illegally manufactured, federally banned M-80s, the fire marshal’s office said. The suspect did not say why.

He is charged with possessing and using an explosive device.

Authorities took the man to the Harford County Detention Center, and he was released on $10,000 bond.

No one was injured in the explosions, and there’s no evidence linking the suspect to any groups that pose a threat.