It has recently come to my attention that James Good, a former roommate and friend of mine, has posted a story into the Heyfonte Pokemon Group in regards to the events that took place during the weekend of Worlds 2013. I will say his statement is a factually incorrect story and is far from the truth.
As James listed he was our ride from Seattle to Vancouver and vice versa. We also stayed in a hotel together over the weekend. I remember Jason Klacyznski coming up to me after the event and approaching me and said "Rahul has been telling everyone you taught him how to cheat, is that true?" I immediately denied his question that he stated and he then stated, "well regardless your hotel room got 3rd, 8th, and 9th so next year I gotta playtest with you guys." He was referring that he knew me, James, and Jon bristow all were staying with each other.
James wants to be a hero. He wants to create an image. He is a no-name player whose biggest accomplishment is losing in top 4 at the world championship. I thought I was his friend but he apparently stabbed me in the back with lies supporting a claim that makes me look pretty bad. I understand I was with him at worlds but lying to protect his image while destroying my character shouldn’t be allowed save or shape his image. Mees and Jason Klacyznski pressured James into this story and James knew it was false so he wanted to remain anonymous. It’s safe to say that that is the real reason for his lack of forthcoming.
Look at what he had posted on my Facebook about the laptop. It gives an idea of how little he cares about me, Jason, Mees, and all the associated drama.
http://postimg.org/image/t25smja2j/
This next photo shows that to me, he acted like he didn't like Jason and made fun of him behind his back. Then later in the photo months later he acted like he cared about me being banned. James is a two face liar and I suggest you reconsider before believing anything he says to you in person. This photo proves how two faced he is! His says one thing and does another. Actions speak louder then words, and his actions show that he is not the person he says he is.
http://postimg.org/image/nl8w3ilc3/
He doesn't care about me or Mees - he just wants attention and to try and be the “hero”. He was scared to lose his winnings because pokemon knows he was with me for worlds 2013. He was scared to have his Pokemon invite and trip taken away for 2014. He was strong-armed and pressured by Jason and Mees to do this. They let him know they were writing letters to Pokemon and wanted to have him write against me to support their claim. What better way to support your claim then to have someone who was both with and apparently neutral with Gino report him?
Let’s rewind to the day this went down. Here is my story.
James drove around for 10-15 minutes in circles waiting for Bristow who we dropped off to go inside and get his bag and I became impatient. I told James to drop me off while I go inside and get Bristow and to come around again. I remember walking right past Bristow entering the hotel not even noticing him and hopping on the elevator going to the 9th or 10th floor (I don’t remember which floor it was but at the time it was the floor bristow was scheduled to go to get his bag). After searching for bristow for 3 minutes I hopped back on the elevator to go back downstairs to go ask James if I was on the right floor. Upon leaving the hotel I noticed Bristow going through a suitcase and he informed me that he had been robbed. Upon finding the bag that Mees left for him in the lobby, he searched it to find that all of his valuables had been removed. Make no mistake; they took his things and were going to cheat him out of approximately $1500 worth of cards, without any way for him to prove it was them. They, however, made the mistake of leaving the stolen items in the suitcases right under his own emptied bag. He was about to find this out, but he was still searching when I had arrived. He told me this, I was a little upset as well.
As hungover as he was from Mees’s 18th birthday, he didn’t 100% remember which bags he found everything in, but it was not just one bag. Most importantly, he found the majority of it in a pink suitcase with a barely-legible bag tag with the letters O-P-P-E before he couldn’t read the rest. When confronting Mees via Facebook about whose suitcase it was, Mees actively avoided giving his friend up in any way. This suggests he had something to hide as well. While they could have solved everything by confessing and saying that they did it drunk, they instead made it clear to us that they wanted to screw Jon over, as well as myself too.
They're the real thieves. Now recall that the night before Mees got extremely drunk with people staying with him in his hotel and other new friends he met over the weekend partied with him as well. Bristow told me Mees and himself had blacked out that night. This is where I believe someone probably actually robbed his Macbook. I believe upon packing in the morning and him recovering from a hangover he wouldn't even remember to pack his macbook even if he had one. There are alot other theories that are possible as well, but it mainly just looks like Mees was trying to stick it to someone who just wanted his cards back and an unfortunate bystander. He claims I rummaged through his luggage to take his items, but if he actually produced the footage of the event, it would show me asking what happened and walking away.
Lets be honest Mees claimed their was stickers on his macbook and James identified his macbook having stickers on it. I find that extremely amusing because I don't know anyone who puts stickers on an extremely expensive item such as a macbook. I also find it unlikely that you claim to put it in a Pokemon store bag that was clearly held from the Pokemon store at worlds 2013. So you put stickers on your macbook and you place your macbook in a extremely cheap Pokemon bag as computer case? That just looks like you treat your expensive items like garbage just saying. This isn't even logical as a person who owns a macbook and I hope I’m not the only one who sees past this.
I own my own macbook, and it is a 15 inch. Not a 13 inch why would I steal someone else’s?
http://postimg.org/image/tv1uvuof5/
I was tipped off 2 days after the alleged incident that James was lieng about me.
http://postimg.org/image/qep2e9alf/
He sent me this the 14th and James dropped me off the 12th. Jason and Mees started their BIG LIE about me on the 12th. In two days it was plenty of time to turn James Good against me and have him write his story that Jason and Mees told him to say. James wanted to stay anonymous for the longest time even though he told people on the 14th I alleged had "Mees's macbook." He wants to be anonymous because his statement is false and his false letters to Pokemon could get him banned and serious penalties. James talks about Bristow reclaiming his cards and in retaliation stole some of Mees's cards that isn't true. Jon was in their for 20-30 minutes at least. He didn't want to have us stuck in traffic knowing the border wait was 3-4 hours and security at the airport could take 1-2 hours he didn't want us to miss our flights. He was rushed and accidentally took extra cards. When he noticed, he at first wrote it off as collateral damage and the thieves just getting what they deserve - some missing things in retaliation. He eventually returned the extra cards to Mees because he had no intention to take them in the first place and he was starting to question at the time if only one of the roommates had taking his things and he got the wrong guy’s stuff. He sorted this out by contacting Mees the first chance he got. If Bristow’s stuff wasn't missing in the first place by these european thieves he would have never went through their stuff, and the entire visit to the convention center/hotel would have lasted 5 minutes. If their is security footage like Mees claims it would show Bristow picked up his bag looked inside and panicked, wondering where his things were. By an educated hunch, and pressured reaction he decided to look into Mees and his roommates bags only to find his remaining missing cards and his suspicions confirmed. So if Mees would have handed Jon back his cards he would have said "see you later" and when Jon noticed his stuff missing Mees and his friends would almost indefinitely say "they don't know where they are." What I am saying here is that if Jon had tried to do the “right thing”, he would be missing $1500 worth of cards and the thieves would be overseas without some miracle.
When I saw bristow getting his cards back he had not found all of his stuff, but he said he found the empty boxes of his stuff in some of the bags so he knew he was close(this was later attributed to the matching boxes they had, a mistake which Bristow corrected). I noticed people on the other side of the lobby and in the lobby playing the video games for the DSI and some players trading and battling. I met an international player from the lobby and I proceeded to buy a BINDER and two Pokemon deck boxes that cost me $100. He sold me the items from and gave me the bag they came in from the Pokemon store. On the footage Mees watched I came in without a bag and exited with a bag. Granted to a security guard that would look suspicious. I didn't say anything about this situation because it was a sensitive subject and by me buying merchandise at a Pokemon event was against Convention Center policy. It was incriminating to myself and Pokemon I didn’t want to find out if I would have been penalized for violating rules on buying cards from people that aren't theirs or vendors. I was also incriminating myself and Jon bristow by saying I witnessed and saw Jon bristow going through someone else's other belongings even if it was to grab his OWN STUFF BACK. I am now banned so these penalties no longer apply to me.
I entered the hotel to get bristow not to take advantage of a situation and steal someone elses belongings. I have requested the video Mees supposedly has seen because I know for 100% on video I did not touch Mees's or his friends belongings. It would also show me purchasing a binder and two deck boxes. It would show me exchanging cash to someone I just met, and nothing else exciting. I have reason to believe Mees only posted a picture of me leaving the entrance with a bag because the entrance was the only cameras that hotel had available. There isn't as strict a privacy act as he claims. Go on youtube you can find a million criminal and theft videos on their of people who committed crimes who have their video uploaded! By me not walking into the hotel with a bag and walking out with a bag gave Mees the impression I robbed whatever he was missing in that bag. It then was written on a police report/security report. Lets not forget a report is whatever someone tells to authority even if it isn't true. As I stated before if he said he has stickers on his macbook and puts it into a cheap plastic Pokemon bag he obviously treats his items like crap which you wouldn't do with an expensive item like that. A rich kid treating his items like that and then going to the ends of the earth and back to get me in trouble for taking it when I didn’t suggests to me that he is really just trying to stick it to me because he tried to steal, and he originally lost out. He wanted to go over the top, and he sure did.
On the car ride over the border all of us still were without phone service due to Canada being on International data agreements. Jon had previously noticed some extra things that weren't his that he mistakenly took were among the things that were. James asked what he took. It was some extra deck boxes, sleeves, and a Blastoise deck. James immediately asked for them because they looked extremely cool and he did well with Blastoise! He insisted over three times he wanted the foreign Langauge tropical beaches that was in the extra Blastoise deck Jon had. It was agreed that because Mees originally robbed him it wouldn't be a big deal letting James have the extra stuff so Jon gave in and let him have it. Soon as we all regained service my and Bristows Facebook notifications and messages were getting blown up with a bunch of people accusing us of robbing Mees and his friends. I thought it was a joke because bristow was originally robbed by these players. With us having nothing to hide we told people we were over the boarder and we would be at Seattle airport from 5-9pm I really wish someone had arrived to help corroborate this story.
Bristow said he took some extra things and wanted to give them back but had already given James the deckbox and sleeves. James refused to give them back at first. Jon proceeded to remind him how the whole issue was driving him absolutely crazy and that it wasn’t fair if Mees wasn’t involved and his stuff was stolen, and it would be best to keep it in one place. Though James did give the fancy deck box, sleeves, and cards back, he forgot to give back some of the rare dice he found in one of the roommates’ dice cases. The thieves did not ask for them back, but it still means that James technically has more stolen items left to his name than either Jon or myself.
In the car when people accused us of stealing over Facebook Jon asked me if I saw any cameras in the hotel, because he was pretty sure that they only exist at the very front, and he was skeptical. I told him there were most LIKELY cameras because it is a hotel and that is fairly standard. I assured him that the cameras will show that I bought cards and that he went through his bag first and only went through Mees and his friends suitcases when he noticed his stuff missing. I told him to not mentioning me buying cards because it would incriminate me and I would possibly get banned for it because Con and Alex got banned over a Prerelease so I do not trust Pokemon’s system on banning players. As for me having people agree that a laptop would never be returned, I will say that that allegation is completely false. I am still confused as to where this came from because Jon only had cards, all of which were visible on his person when he entered the car, and I just had what I bought. I was not near Jon for longer than a minute. The photo Mees provided claiming that Jon Bristow was caught on camera isn't even Jon Bristow the rope bag that had been mentioned before(that Jon owns) was not in the frame of the shot of the person leaving! That is either someone else, or Jon was attempting to leave empty handed. Jon’s bag is white and he would have it in his hand or on his back like a normal person. My personal “guilt shot” shows me leaving with a bag I allegedly did not enter with. This is either terrible luck on my part or Mees went out of his way to use a photo that looked purely damning without any actual proof.
As for me creating derogatory Facebook statuses about Mees:
These were because he was accusing me of something I didn't do. He was spreading a lie alongside Jason K which tainted my image, reputation, and people’s view of my character. I am extremely upset that so much lying went on behind the scenes and has led to my ban when I was completely innocent. I felt a need to make them look as silly as they were trying to make me look evil.
You wouldn't last two minutes in my shoes. James Good fears my retaliation because he knew that both Bristow and I knew he had Mees's deck boxes, Blastoise deck, and sleeves. He did not want to jeopardize his worlds 2014 invite, his scholarships won, nor the “image” he has just built by getting a top 4 at worlds (if you can call it that, I’m pretty sure the consensus is that he is still just a random with a Worlds invite). He went from a fanboy at Nationals wanting my autograph and a picture with me to a no good lying back stabbing SNAKE! I get that I am not going to rub everyone the right way, but I’d still rather be myself than his sorry self any day.
This Vine has me cursing in this by saying the "f" word. I apologize. However, it also shows a video I took which I uploaded as soon as everyones cell phone regained service at the border. James stated "I apologize to everyone for driving Jon and Gino, knowing they had stolen items. I don't handle confrontation well, and I wasn't sure how to handle the situation when I learned they had stolen from Mees's luggage." Is it just me or does he look extremely happy, I mean that was a hour to two hour drive of already knowing about the situation? Lets just blame it on the sugar cause you know sugar makes everyone smile, right? He appears to be handling “confrontation” pretty well here.
These recent events have made me sick. I am not a thief. In 2006, I was robbed myself at Worlds in Anaheim, CA. I spent an entire night tracking the thieves, finally tracing them back to their room where the cops were sent with adequate proof to arrest them. I know first hand what it is like to lose things that are yours. That is why I fully support Jon’s course of action in getting his stuff back: he had no other choice if he hoped to end up with his stuff given the lack of proof he had via cameras and the fact that there was no guarantee that he would have been able to get Mees and company to open up their luggage and prove their guilt. However, it is also why I am so upset at this whole issue. I find it sickening to get a warning letter in the mail for a false accusation while the real thief goes untouched. In fact, he was given some fame, and the comfort on an entire community.
For a while I realized how bad our situation looked and was willing to settle for not being completely in trouble. At this point, I want some kind of action against Mees, Marcel Opperman, Jason K, and James Good taken if they think they can just mess around with other people’s image. I always thought it was fun to be the “villain” kind of character if I was always competing against the Lafonte Golden Boys, but this time the line was crossed.
For everyone thinking that I’m such a bad guy heres what I posted after losing to James in top 16 at worlds 2013. If that’s not sportsmanship I don't know what is.
http://postimg.org/image/4ce3wku8x/
http://postimg.org/image/3ks0ybfmd/
I know this doesn’t even begin to prove that I’m a good guy on its own, I just want to explain to all of the people who religiously follow my profile and seem to think I’m awful. I am a very sarcastic and silly guy, and what I say on Facebook is clearly being misread on a daily basis. My best friends scarcely take me seriously. I don’t need to change the way I am for anyone, and I think that if you guys deem it ok to fully judge someone you’ve never met for more than a minute by their profile picture, then that says a little something about your own character, not mine.
As for Mr. Good....
Here’s his response last night when I confronted him. I was not surprised by his response because he is a two-faced person. Look at my picture I posted above - where did this come from!?
http://postimg.org/image/r1d35hiyx/
The fact that I am still banned and Pokemon has decided to believe people like this over me is heart-breaking. I hope to be accepting an apology from TPCi and I would hope Pokemon could penalize James, Jason, Mees, and everyone else for being their own kind of culprits who started all this nonsense in the first place and have caused me nothing but heartache and drama for 3+ months.
