A Pokemon Trading Card Game collector pleaded no contest after he was arrested and accused of illegally placing a GPS tracker inside a delivery driver’s car as a way to track card restocks. The ongoing popularity of Pokemon card releases has resulted in The Pokemon Company taking drastic measures to combat scalping and keep stocks plentiful.
The Pokemon franchise celebrated its 30th anniversary in February, which included various product releases to mark the occasion. Among these collectible releases is the Pokemon TCG: 30th Celebration expansion set, which includes reprints of cards from the game’s long history, including 30 different Pikachu cards. Each reprinted card includes a special Pokemon 30th anniversary logo on the right side. 30th Celebration cards will become legal for official tournament play starting Friday, September 25, meaning TPC will continue to print the set for the foreseeable future.
Though collectors have used various methods to track when a rare Pokemon card set will be restocked, one man took it upon himself to track a delivery driver’s car instead. According to Cleveland’s Fox 8 News, 72-year-old Kent Kubasta of Medina, Ohio, was arrested and pleaded no contest to a charge of illegally using a GPS tracking device. Kubasta’s arrest came after a woman who worked as a Walmart restock vendor said she found the GPS tracker in her car in June and notified the Wooster Police Department shortly after. The tracker was allegedly used by Kubasta to see where and when deliveries of Pokemon TCG shipments were made in the area. As part of his no-contest plea, Kubasta faces a fine of $500 and court costs, with no further penalties listed by the Wayne County Municipal Court’s filing on the case.
Operation Fandom store manager Randy Kendall told Fox 8 News that Pokemon TCG collectors who want to see where card drops are occurring can instead use social media sites like Facebook and TikTok rather than rely on other methods. Kendall said that different groups can offer connections and information about card shipments to interested parties. However, the hobby of collecting and selling Pokemon cards has also been a lucrative endeavor for thieves. In August 2026, ThePokeHive in the San Antonio suburb of Castle Hills was broken into and over $100,000 in Pokemon TCG merchandise was stolen by four individuals, according to video footage.
In response to Pokemon TCG products being scalped and resold for marked-up prices, The Pokemon Company and retailers in Japan proposed a requirement to show a government-issued ID when buying Pokemon cards. This measure also extended to allowing TPC to host lotteries aimed at selling Pokemon TCG sets and cards to legitimate users. By tying a purchase to a government ID, the measures would deter accounts and bots from buying and scalping any stocks held by Japanese retailers.
However, the ongoing popularity of the Pokemon TCG‘s 30th Celebration set has caused the Pokemon Center storefront to cancel orders in waves. The cancellations resulted in some customers being caught in the crossfire. With Pokemon redoubling its efforts to keep cards in stock, it remains to be seen what other measures the company can take.
