CHICAGO — A lot of people in Chicago like Pokémon. But it seems Ronald Reed really, really likes Pokémon.
Reed has been arrested three times since December for allegedly shoplifting Pokémon trading cards. Now he’s facing a felony charge because, according to prosecutors, he stole two rare Pokémon collectible cards from a Mag Mile gaming store.
He started simply enough. In Melrose Park on December 5, he was arrested as he stole two boxes of Pokémon cards worth $240 from a Target store, according to court records.
About two weeks later, he got arrested in the Loop at Target’s 1 South State Street location. Prosecutors said he went to the second floor, took 19 boxes of Pokémon plus 19 individual packages of Pokémon cards, and started to walk out the door.
Prosecutors charged him with retail theft that time. Officials said the cards were worth $565.
Judge Kelly McCarthy initially ordered him to pay a $1,000 bail bond to be released on electronic monitoring. A week later, Judge Edward Maloney reduced his bond payment to $300 and removed the electronic monitoring requirement, according to court records.
On July 18, Reed entered Gamer’s World at Water Tower Place, 835 North Michigan, and stole two Pokémon cards worth $1,600, according to a Chicago police report.
Store employees saw him return four days later and ordered him to leave. They called 911 because he refused to go, and the cops arrested him when they arrived, the report said.
Now he’s charged with felony retail theft again. Judge Maryam Ahamad ordered him to pay a $300 bail deposit to get out on electronic monitoring.
He was released ten days later under a law that gives people jailed for low-level crimes a $30 per day credit toward bail.