Man slammed for licking Blue Bell tub and putting it back in Walmart freezer says he bought the ice cream after stunt
PORT ARTHUR, TEXAS: On Monday, a Facebook user in South Texas posted a video showing him licking a container of Blue Bell ice cream before putting it back on the shelf at a Walmart—the latest incident in the growing trend of food tampering that is sweeping the nation. The video went viral on social media causing outrage among viewers.
The Port Arthur Police confronted the man in the video, who went by the name "Dapper Don", and discovered that he had a receipt for the container of ice-cream that he licked. He confirmed to the authorities that he had bought the can of ice cream after he made the prank video, 12 News reported.
In the 20-second-long video, captioned, "Happy National Soft Ice Cream Day #viral,” Don was seen removing a half-gallon tub of Blue Bell’s homemade vanilla flavor from a freezer at the superstore. He proceeded to take the lid off the container, lick it twice and return it back to its place with the lid reattached.
In the backdrop, Don's accomplice could be heard yelling, “Come on, let’s go, let’s go! Hurry up!” The video has been viewed over 108,000 times.
According to Detective Mike Hebert of the Port Arthur Police Department, they received a number of reports about the incident on their Facebook page, through Crime Stoppers and individual officers, from outraged social media users.
However, no charges have currently been filed against the prankster and the police are waiting on the district attorney's office to review the case, Port Arthur Police Chief Tim Duriso told the outlet.
If charged with tampering a consumer product, Don could be looking at a two to 20-year prison sentence.
Don told 12 News that while his intention was to troll "all Southeast Texas," he had no idea that would go viral so fast. "Just saying they are going to beat me up and try to find me," said Don. "They're going to leak my address and stuff like that."
Just three hours after posting the video, the authorities came knocking at his door, Don said.
Taking no risks, Blue Bell said that they had identified the store where the incident took place and replaced every unit of the half-gallon size Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla with fresh ones.
“The safety of our ice cream is our highest priority, and we work hard to maintain the highest level of confidence of our customers,” a spokesperson said. “We view the tampering of our products very seriously.”
Walmart also weighed in the incident, adding that there was nothing funny about food-tampering, which was a crime.
“If food is tampered with, or a customer wants to leave the impression that they left behind adulterated product, we will move quickly with law enforcement to in identify, apprehend and prosecute those who think this is a joke — it is not,” a spokesperson of the company said.
Back in July, a girl was caught on camera carrying out a similar prank at a Walmart in Lufkin, Texas, which is believed to have started the criminal trend.