‘Chuck E. Cheese’ costume-wearing employee arrested in Florida, accused of stealing credit card

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Kids and their families had quite a shock when they saw Chuck E. Cheese arrested inside the pizza arcade.

The Tallahassee Police Department took a restaurant employee wearing the Chuck E. Cheese costume into custody this week, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

The man, identified as Jermell Jones, was accused of stealing a customer’s credit card and using it.

A police spokesperson said that they had been contacted by a customer who had hosted a birthday party at the location in June and after the event, she saw $100 worth of fraudulent charges on her card from places she had not visited.

She traced the charges to an employee at Chuck E. Cheese, using a security video from one of the places where her card had been used, ABC News reported. The woman realized it had been a restaurant employee, and contacted police, asking them to meet her at the business.

At first, police identified him as an employee checking stamps at the front door, but when they came back to arrest him, other employees told officers that he was dressed as the restaurant’s mascot.

Initially, they were not going to arrest him inside the business.

“They walked over with the intention of just walking outside to put handcuffs on him outside of public view,” spokesperson Alicia Hill told the Tallahassee Democrat.

Hill then told the newspaper, “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.”

She said that it was “unfortunate” that he had been in the costume, adding that police said they found the stolen credit card in his possession, along with a receipt from a purchase made the day before his arrest, WFOR reported.

ABC News said there were charges from a smoke shop, a meat market and a Whataburger.

Police said during questioning that he had found the card and was about to turn it into lost and found, denying he took it, according to ABC News.

A later photo shared online showed the man in custody near the police car, with the costume head on the roof of the vehicle, WFOR reported.

The restaurant’s parent company, CEC Entertainment, said it has taken “appropriate action concerning the subject employee.”

Police charged Jones with theft of credit card, criminal use of personal identification information and fraudulent use of a credit card more than twice or for purchases exceeding $100, according to WFOR. All of the charges are felonies.

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