This Week’s Wacky Wednesday: Pokémon Go Right to Jail
It seems like Florida is mentioned on this blog quite a bit. It is not as though we actively seek out only stories that happen in America’s Sunshine State. It’s just that wacky and weird things continue to happen there and they really can’t be ignored. There are stories that are almost unbelievable, and that might be unbelievable if you hadn’t already heard plenty of other strangeness out of Florida. Let’s now head down to Florida to get a look at one of the latest odd occurrences that have caused someone to get arrested. This time it has to do with Pokémon. Well, it also had to do with a substantial quantity of drugs.
What Happened?
Deputy Rossi from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office was patrolling Beacon Meadows Park. This was a closed county park, but the deputy found a man in the park who was out catching wild Pokémon in the middle of the night/early morning. The man found was 29-year-old Jonathan Ortiz. You might imagine that someone out catching these little monsters might not be causing any problems and that simply telling them to leave and that it was a closed park would be all that’s needed. Most of the time, that might be true. We are talking about Florida, though.
The deputy also observed marijuana in plain view in the suspect’s vehicle. This prompted a search of the entire vehicle, and more than little marijuana was found during the search. She discovered that there was a full pound of marijuana in the vehicle, as well as 5.5 pounds of THC oil and 3.5 grams of cocaine. It is highly unlikely that Ortiz was going to use the drugs as lures for all of those wild Pokémon. Naturally, Ortiz was arrested. It is unknown whether he ever caught that wild Pokémon that ended up being his downfall.
Given the types of drugs and the number of drugs that were found in the vehicle, it is quite likely that Ortiz will be facing a long potential sentence if he is convicted. He might want to start hoping that the judge is a trainer in the same Pokémon gym.
Other Pokémon Problems
Of course, if you know anything at all about this game, you are probably aware that this is not the first time that Pokémon go has been in the news for more than just the fun people are having with the game. There have been plenty of issues of reckless driving because people are looking for those digital critters rather than looking where they are going, cases of people being attacked and arrested for going onto private property, and even issues of people falling off cliffs and into bodies of water trying to catch elusive Pokémon.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with the game, and it helps many people to get out and get some exercise and even socialize with others. However, it is important to pay attention to your surroundings to make sure you do not injure someone else. From the story above, it is also probably not a good idea to have a massive quantity of drugs on you when you are playing!
Using some common sense, not hauling around a lot of drugs, and making sure that you are paying attention to what is going on around you is important. It can be a lot of fun, and it is too bad that there are incidences out there that give the game a bad name.