Pokemon players plead guilty to gun charges
Two men pleaded guilty to gun charges Thursday after driving to the Pokemon World Championships in Boston last summer with weapons in their car.James Stumbo, 28, of Boone, Iowa, pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful possession of a DPMS AR-15 rifle. Kevin Norton, 19, of Ames, Iowa, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a 12-gauge Remington shotgun. Both men also pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of 300 rounds of ammunition.
They were sentenced in Suffolk Superior Court to two years jail time and two years probation.
While serving probation, Norton and Stumbo will be barred from Boston’s Hynes Convention Center, where the championships took place, will have to undergo mental health evaluations, and will be forbidden from possessing weapons.
The men said they had made a 24-hour drive to the championships last August prior to their arrests.
According to prosecutors, Stumbo had posted an image to Facebook of the weapons resting on the trunk of Norton’s car along with the text, “Kevin Norton and I are ready for Worlds Boston here we come!!!”
When Norton was banned from an online Pokemon chatroom prior to the convention, he allegedly told the moderator, “Oh, ok, that’s fine then I will just shoot him on Friday thanks.”
Neither Stumbo nor Norton had criminal records prior to their arrest. Stumbo told the court he was previously employed at a factory; Norton had worked for several years at a supermarket. Both showed little emotion in Thursday’s one-hour hearing in which they signed away their rights to a trial.
Neither Norton nor Stumbo were charged with making threats.
Outside the courtroom, Norton’s attorney, Robert LeRoy, explained that while the charges were serious, the origins of his client’s crime are, “actually very silly.”
He said his client was upset after he was accused of cheating at the the Missouri State Pokemon Championships.
“[Norton] said something back, and it got ugly,” LeRoy said. “Things were posted that shouldn’t have been posted.”
LeRoy said his client was not aware of the gun laws in Massachusetts. Both defendants bought the firearms legally in Iowa, and regularly travel with weapons in their car, he said.
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