Clients watched in disbelief as Florida police arrested a Chuck E. Cheese worker — in costume portraying the pizza-hawking rodent — and accused him of utilizing a stolen bank card, officers stated Thursday.
Jermel Jones, 41, was engaged on Wednesday evening when Tallahassee police confronted him on the Chuck E. Cheese on Sharer Street, in accordance with legislation enforcement data.
“I grabbed his proper arm whereas giving the verbal instruction, ‘Chuck E, include me Chuck E,’ ” Tallahassee police Officer Jarrett Cruz wrote within the report.
“Jones instantly began tensing up locking each of his arms ahead in entrance of his chest and tried to drag away from my grip on his proper arm. I gave the verbal instructions, ‘cease resisting, you might be being detained.'”
Cruz advised the mascot to not make a scene earlier than the officer and his companion “exerted minor bodily effort” to handcuff him, police stated.
Sufferer Michelle Allen advised police she’d been to her kid’s party at Chuck E. Cheese on June 28 and shortly noticed fraudulent costs at shops she does not frequent, police stated.
She went to a type of shops and obtained safety footage, matching the time her card was wrongly used, police stated. She acknowledged the Chuck E. Cheese worker making a purchase order on the retailer concurrently a type of fraudulent swipes, police stated.
Cruz went to that Chuck E. Cheese location and recognized Jones, not in costume, as the worker Allen suspected of stealing her card. The officer briefly talked with Allen, who he described as “very nervous” throughout their dialog.
Cruz left the restaurant to check with Allen and one other officer. When the officers went again inside, Jones was gone however a Chuck E. Cheese mascot was now within the restaurant.
Cruz requested one other worker if she knew the place Jones went, and if the individual within the mouse outfit was in actual fact him, she “shook her head up and down indicating sure.”
The officers learn the mouse his Miranda warnings earlier than he insisted he by no means stole anybody’s credit score.
“I do not obtained no card on me, I do not use no one’s playing cards however my very own,” Jones stated, in accordance with Cruz’s arrest report.
Officers discovered the sufferer’s Visa card in Jones’ left pocket and a receipt from a smoke store the place one of many fraudulent purchases was made, police stated.
Jones was booked on suspicion of larceny, possession of one other individual’s ID with out consent and fraudulent use of a bank card two or extra instances.
It wasn’t instantly clear on Friday if Jones had employed or been assigned a felony protection lawyer to talk on his behalf.
He bailed out of Leon County Jail on Thursday after posting a $6,500 bond, a jail consultant facet. A publicly listed cell quantity related to Jones was not accepting any incoming calls on Friday.
“We’re conscious of an incident involving a part-time worker arrested at our Tallahassee location on Wednesday,” a Chuck E. Cheese spokesperson stated in a press release on Friday.
“We now have taken the suitable motion regarding the topic worker.”
