While children were playing arcade games and eating pizza at a Chuck E. Cheese in Tallahassee, Fla., the franchise mascot was being whisked away in handcuffs by police. Photos of the shocking spectacle quickly began circulating online, and now, we know exactly what happened.
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Jermel Jones, 41, was working as the Chuck E. Cheese mascot on Wednesday (July 23), police say. But while it was just another day in the kid-friendly entertainment zone, Jones became the focus of a police investigation.
Last month, a mother noticed fraudulent charges on her debit card “from establishments she did not shop at,” including at 1Smoke Shop, Whataburger and Circle K, E! News reported. Apparently, she and her daughter had visited the Tallahassee resturant in June. After realizing her card was stolen, the mother visited one of the locations were the suspect allegedly made a suspicious purchase.
That’s when she was shown security footage of one the suspect’s purchase with her card. The woman “immediately recognized the suspect as an employee at Chuck E. Cheese,” according to police documents.
This led to Tallahassee police officer Jarrett Cruz waltzing into the Chuck E. Cheese on July 23 and approaching Jones, who was identified by the woman. “As I approached Jones, I grabbed his right arm while giving the verbal instruction, ‘Chuck E, come with me Chuck E,’” Cruz stated in the report. “Jones immediately started tensing up locking both of his arms forward in front of his chest and attempted to pull away from my grip on his right arm.”
In total, investigators said the 41-year-old racked up $105.57 in fraudulent charges. He denied making any of the purchases and claimed he didn’t know anything about it. A police search also resulted in a receipt matching one of the fraudulent purchases, according to the report.
The Tallahassee Police Department also said Jones had a small amount of marijuana on him, according to TMZ. When asked if he had a medical license for it, he reportedly responded, “I was on the way to getting one.”
Pictures taken of Jones’ arrest soon went viral online. “They got my dawg Chuck-E on 12 counts of embezzling cheese, free my boy,” @7ixers tweeted.
Another user, @DomaLatrice, wrote “I can imagine the kids telling everybody chuck e cheese got arrested.”
“Hulk Hogan dies, Starlink is down worldwide, and someone in a Chuck E. Cheese mascot costume gets arrested. The end times are here,” @Jerseypiper77 added.
In response to Jones’ arrest, Chuck E. Cheese released a statement to E! News saying, “We are aware of an incident involving a part-time employee arrested at our Tallahassee location on Wednesday, July 23. We have taken the appropriate action concerning the subject employee.”
Jones was charged with credit card theft, criminal use of personal identification information and fraudulent use of a credit card over two times/over $100.00, ABC News reported. He’s been released on $1,000 bail.
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