On December 11 the former mayor of a city in Pennsylvania was sentenced to prison for threatening and shooting at people playing Pokémon GO outside a community food bank last year.
On the night of March 14, 2022 intoxicated former Osceola Mills mayor Ida Reams, 52, called 911 to complain that two people in her area looked suspicious. She told police that she was “done” with being harassed and yelled at the cops to send someone out right now, adding that she was going to “fucking kill” the two people. Police reportedly heard two gunshots before the call disconnected.
At the same time, a second 911 call from one of the two people Reams was angry about came in. The man explained he and his friend were playing Pokémon GO in the area, when a clearly drunk Reams yelled at them. When they left, Reams followed in her truck and trapped them in a food bank parking lot. Police arrived soon after and arrested Reams.
According to witnesses, Reams fired at least five shots from a revolver. The former mayor was later charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, terroristic threats, and DUI.
As reported by ABC 27 on Tuesday, Reams was sentenced to up to one year in jail plus 18 months of probation via a plea deal.
The case was complicated by the two victims not showing up for court and the fact that Reams has cancer. She says that the disease is spreading and that she wishes to serve her time at home where she claims she’ll have better access to necessary medications.
She will report to the jail on January 11 to show medical records, which could determine if she can serve her sentence from home.
This is far from the first time that the popular mobile AR game, Pokémon GO, has been involved in criminal incidents. Recently, dashcam footage surfaced of two police officers in 2017 ignoring their radio to catch rare Pokémon creatures. The two LAPD officers were later fired.
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