Texas man sent to prison for licking ice cream in Walmart before putting it back on the shelf
A minute on the lips, a lifetime on the criminal record.
A judge in the US has jailed a man who filmed himself licking ice cream from the tub in a Texas Walmart before putting it back in the freezer.
D'Adrien Anderson, 24, posted a clip of himself on Facebook as part of a trend of ice cream licking that swept social media last year.
The CCTV from the supermarket in Port Arthur, about 90 miles (145km) east of Houston, showed he later took the ice cream tub out of the freezer and bought it.
But the judge sentenced Anderson to 30 days in prison for the stunt and handed him a six-month suspended sentence.
Anderson was also ordered to pay $1,565 (£1,200) to the ice cream company, who paid for the entire freezer of ice cream to be replaced after the video was viewed by 157,000 people online.
US media reported that Anderson and his father returned to the supermarket to show police a receipt for the ice cream to prove none of the products were left tainted.
But police pressed charges of criminal mischief. Anderson pleaded guilty and on Thursday was fined a further $1,000 on top of his prison sentence.
“Anderson’s actions caused public concerns about the safety and quality of consumer products offered for public consumption, impacted Blue Bell consumer confidence and caused the company financial loss,” Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office said. “This type of activity will not be tolerated.”
Anderson was not the first person to lick ice cream and return it to the freezer for his online followers. A month before, a video of a girl licking another Blue Bell tub in a separate Texas Walmart was viewed 13 million times on social media, triggering a mini craze.
Police in Texas issued an appeal to track down the suspect. The cold case was cracked when they traced the video to a 17-year-old. But she was too young to face formal charges.
