A Fresno man has been sentenced to four years in state prison after stealing $1,000 worth of Pokémon cards from a Visalia gas station and threatening witnesses during the incident.

On Friday in Department 4 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Michael Ryan Baker, 31, was sentenced to four years in state prison for robbery.

Around 9:30 a.m. on April 25, 2025, officers with the Visalia Police Department responded to a gas station on Dinuba Boulevard following reports of a theft. Police learned Baker had stolen $1,000 worth of Pokémon cards.

When confronted, witnesses said Baker lifted his shirt in a threatening manner as if he had a weapon in his waistband. After a brief chase out of the store, employees saw that Baker had parked his car directly behind the store with the trunk open.

Baker fled the scene but was identified through video surveillance and taken into custody two days later.

On Oct. 6, 2025, Baker pleaded no contest to felony second-degree robbery with a special allegation that he possessed a prior serious felony conviction for robbery in Fresno County in 2016.

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