Home Invasion Suspect Blames It On Pokémon Go; Goes To Pokey

Editor’s note: One person’s name was removed from this report because his or her charges were dismissed.

WEST BLOOMFIELD, MI — Be warned: If you try to barge into a stranger’s home with nefarious intent, police aren’t likely to fall for the story that you were just trying to catch Pokémon.

You’ll get caught instead.

That’s what happened recently in West Bloomfield Township to a 22-year-old Oakland County man, according to police.

[Name Removed] tried to convince West Bloomfield police that the elderly couple had it wrong when they called 911 around 8 p.m. Thursday to report someone was walking around on their roof and trying to get in through a window, WDIV-TV reported.

Now, unless you’ve been living on a planet without any modern communication gizmos, you probably know all about the Pokémon Go phenomenon — perhaps more than you want to know. Briefly, it’s an augmented reality game on smartphones that uses GPS to allow people to kind of step into the game and search for rare Pokémons in the real, actual world.

The response by police in the real, actual world to the Pokémon alibi? Pft. The only place you’re going is the pokey, or words to that effect.

Nebus was arrested and charged with first-degree home invasion, police said.

SEE ALSO:

• Cops ‘Catch’ Criminal Playing Pokémon Go
• Pokémon Go Players Save Home, Family Dog from Fire
• Pokémon Go Players Arrested for After-Hours Play at Park

The Pokémon Go craze recently led to another odd encounter between police and and a guy who was actually playing the game.

Last week, a man apparently so caught up in the game that he hadn't bothered to change out of his pajama pants, pedaled his bicycle to a Pokémon Go gymnasium, which turned out to be the Milford cop shop, where a warrant for his arrest was waiting.

Oops.