TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WKRC) – A video went viral on social media that showed the moment a Chuck E. Cheese worker was arrested while still wearing the permanently-smiling mascot costume.
According to information from Tallahassee Police Department spokesperson Alicia Hill obtained by local outlet Tallahassee Democrat, officers were dispatched to the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant’s parking lot on July 3 regarding a stolen credit card.
The victim met police at the scene and claimed that soon after she used her credit card to pay for a pizza party in June, she started noticing around $100 worth of charges she did not make at places she had not been. The victim told officers she traced the fraudulent activity to the Chuck E. Cheese employee.
When officers first arrived, they identified the accused employee, Jermell Jones, as the man who was checking stamps at the front door, but by the time they returned to make the arrest, he had already donned the Chuck E. Cheese mascot costume, Hill said.
Hill explained that officers “walked over with the intention of just walking outside to put the handcuffs on him outside of public view… But when they approached him, he immediately tenses up and resists, and so at this point they make the decision to put him in handcuffs, keeping in mind the safety of not only the customers, but the suspect, as well as the officers themselves.”
Police reports obtained by the outlet described how an arresting officer referred to the subject in character.
“Chuck E., come with me Chuck E.,” he said.
Hill said officers found the stolen credit card in Jones’ possession.
