BOSTON, July 21, 2016—Two Iowa men admitted to gun and ammunition charges today, receiving jail time and probation for bringing a shotgun and assault rifle to the Pokemon World Championship in Boston last year, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.
Kevin Norton of Ames, Iowa, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a 12-guage Remington shotgun and James Stumbo of Boone, Iowa, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a DPMS AR-15 rifle. Both pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of about 300 rounds of ammunition.
At the request of Assistant District Attorney Brian Brodigan of the DA’s Gang Unit, both men were sentenced to two years in a house of correction followed by two years of probation during which they must stay away from the Hynes Convention Center, undergo mental health evaluations, and possess no weapons.
Noting that the weapons were unloaded when recovered and that the ammunition for both was secured, prosecutors agreed to dismiss an additional charge of unlawful possession of a high capacity feeding device.
Had the case proceeded to trial, prosecutors would have introduced evidence and testimony showing that Norton and Stumbo drove from Iowa to Boston in August 2015 in order to attend the Pokemon World Championship at the Hynes Convention Center. Prior to their arrival at the event on Aug. 20, however, Boston Police were notified of statements and images they had allegedly posted online that could have been construed as threats of gun violence.
“Kevin Norton and I are ready for worlds Boston here we come,” Stumbo posted with a photo of the AR-15 and shotgun displayed on its trunk. That statement and others were made amid an online chat in which others – but not the defendants – referred to “Columbine pt 2,” “another Boston massacre,” and the “Boston bombing.”
As a result of the posts, officers stopped both men upon their arrival at the convention center and issued no trespass orders. Norton allegedly made statements to the officers that the men had a shotgun and rifle in Norton’s 2002 Chevrolet Prizm, prosecutors said. Boston Police froze the vehicle and towed it to headquarters.
The men were interviewed and released. When police executed a search warrant and recovered the weapons, they returned and took both men into custody. They have remained held since their Aug. 21 arrests. Norton and Stumbo were represented by attorneys Robert LeRoy and Steven Goldwyn, respectively.
