After 30 years, Pokémon remains among the most desirable collectible franchises in fandom and auctions regularly prove the cards' growing value. But one collector went too far in his efforts to acquire Squirter or PewPew or whatever, attaching a GPS tranceiver on a delivery driver's vehicle and using it to track her movements. Kent Kubasta, 72, of Medina, pleaded no contest to a charge of illegal use of a tracking device and was setenced to a year's probation.

For his crime, Kubasta was sentenced [PDF] to 12 months of community control – Ohio's term for probation – under basic supervision. He will be electronically monitored by GPS for the first 90 days.

He was also ordered to have no contact with the woman, pay a $25 monthly supervision fee and a $500 fine, and cover court costs. His total bill comes to $905.50. Violating the terms could land Kubasta in jail for six months.

Aftermath's Nicole Carpenter reports that the delivery driver noticed the device on her car while delivering Pokémon cards to a Walmart store in Ohio.

An affidavit signed by Wooster, Ohio police said Kubasta "later admitted to placing the tracking device on [redacted's] car to track her location/delivery of Pokémon cards." The device placed was a SpyTech GPS, which connects to a smartphone application to track real-time movement. … It's been rumored for years that people put GPS trackers on delivery driver vehicles to track where Pokémon card restocks are happening. Somehow, scalpers always know where to go; you'll see massive lines at stores like Target, Best Buy, and Walmart when scalpers think a restock is about to happen.

There's no indication of how Kubasta was identified, but authorities would not likely have required the services of Detective Pikachu. GPS devices can be traced to operators and purchasers through manufacturer records.

Last week's Pokémon 30th anniversary Elite Trainer Box offered a fresh example of the madness at hand: $50 in stores, it sold out immediately and people are paying more than $150 for it online: "Even retailers like GameStop are pricing their stock above MSRP; it's $100" there, Carpenter adds.

Previously: New Pokémon Lego set costs more than a Switch 2 and an actual game