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Rare Pokémon cards worth more than $100,000 stolen from shop

(NYT) — More than $100,000 worth of rare, high-end Pokémon cards and box sets were stolen from a Massachusetts shop that specializes in trading cards and collectibles, an owner of the store said.

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A burglar used a hammer to smash open the door of the shop, 1st Edition Collectibles in New Bedford, Massachusetts, around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Once inside, the thief dashed to a display case and stashed the Pokémon collectibles in a bag before taking off, according to William Gilmour, one of the store’s three owners.

He said that the stolen items, which included five rare cards and some vintage box sets, were valued at $100,000 to $113,000.

“They were in and out of our store within 30 seconds,” Gilmour said Sunday about the burglar. “They went straight to these high-value items.”

The stolen cards included a BGS 8.5 First Edition Shadowless Charizard and a BGS 7.5 First Edition Shadowless Blastoise. (BGS stands for Beckett Grading Services, a company that grades collectibles and trading cards.) The sealed boxes included a Pokémon base set Unlimited Green Wing Booster Box.

The shop, which sells Pokémon items, sports trading cards and vintage video games, is in downtown New Bedford, about 60 miles south of Boston.

Holly Huntoon, a spokesperson for the New Bedford Police Department, said that the break-in remained under investigation and that no arrests had been made.

On Facebook, the store’s owners posted a surveillance video image of the burglary and a list highlighting the stolen items to raise public awareness.

Justice Department drops case over fake COVID-19 cards

(NYT) — The Justice Department has dismissed charges against a Utah plastic surgeon who was accused in 2023 of selling fake COVID-19 vaccine cards for $50 apiece, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a social media post.

The decision to dismiss charges against the surgeon, Dr. Michael Kirk Moore Jr., was the latest move by President Donald Trump’s administration to push back against measures taken during the pandemic regarded by many of his allies as government overreach.

“Dr. Moore gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so,” Bondi wrote Saturday night. “He did not deserve the years in prison he was facing. It ends today.”

In the motion to dismiss the case Saturday, Felice John Viti, the acting U.S. attorney in Utah, wrote that dropping the case was “in the interests of justice.”

Lawyers for Moore said in a statement that it was “the right decision and the just one.” Trial proceedings had begun this month in Salt Lake City. Charges against Kris Anderson and the Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah were also dropped, the lawyers said.

Opposition to the case had attracted considerable interest among conservatives, many of whom viewed it as an example of what they said was former President Joe Biden’s use of the judiciary to target figures on the right.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic, said in April on social media that Moore deserved a “medal for his courage.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said last week that she was asking the Justice Department to drop the charges against Moore, calling him “a hero, not a criminal.”