A Chuck E. Cheese’s mascot has been arrested in Florida after a buyer ratted him out as an alleged thief, police stated.
A employee wearing a Chuck E. Cheese costume at one of many kid-friendly pizza chain’s franchises in Tallahassee, Florida, was taken into custody Wednesday evening on larceny costs and hauled out of the restaurant in handcuffs as kids seemed on, in keeping with police and pictures of the incident that emerged on social media.
The suspect, 41-year-old Jermel Jarreau Jones, of Tallahassee, was dressed head-to-toe in a Chuck E. Cheese costume when police confronted him round 7:30 p.m. native time at a Chuck E. Cheese in northwest Tallahassee, in keeping with an arrest report from the Tallahassee Police Division.
A Chuck E. Cheese’s mascot in Tallahassee, Florida, sporting costume like one pictured right here, was arrested, July 23, 2025, at work and charged with stealing a buyer’s debit card, in keeping with a police report. (Getty Pictures)
Getty Pictures
“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.
Cruz alleged that the person within the mascot costume initially resisted arrest.
“Jones instantly began tensing up, locking each of his arms ahead in entrance of his chest and tried to tug away from my grip on his proper arm,” the officer wrote within the report. “I gave the verbal instructions to ‘cease resisting, you might be being detained.”
Cruz and a back-up officer reportedly requested the masked worker to “not make a scene,” in keeping with the report.
The officers stated they “exerted minor bodily effort inserting Jones’ arms behind his again,” in keeping with the report.
Jones, nonetheless in full mouse garb, was positioned in double-locked handcuffs and escorted out of the restaurant to a marked patrol car, the place police eliminated his oversize Chuck E. Cheese head and allegedly present in his pants pocket a debit card that was reported stolen from a buyer throughout a June 28 kid’s occasion on the restaurant, in keeping with the report.
A Chuck E. Cheese’s mascot in Tallahassee, Florida, sporting costume like one pictured right here, was arrested, July 23, 2025, at work and charged with stealing a buyer’s debit card, in keeping with a police report.
Getty Pictures
Jones was arrested on felony costs of larceny of a debit card, possession of one other individual’s identification with out consent and for allegedly utilizing the stolen debit card six occasions.
Police alleged that Jones racked up costs on the stolen debit card, together with buying gadgets at a smoke store, a meat market and a Whataburger.
Jones couldn’t be reached for remark. He denied stealing the cardboard when questioned by police and claimed the cardboard was in his pocket as a result of he had simply discovered it and was about to show it in to misplaced and located, in keeping with the police report.
“We’re conscious of an incident involving a part-time worker arrested at our Tallahassee location on Wednesday, July 23. We have now taken the suitable motion in regards to the topic worker. The police haven’t reached out to us about this; please contact the native Tallahassee police division for any questions,” a Chuck E. Cheese’s firm spokesperson stated in a press release to ABC Information.
The sufferer of the debit card theft reportedly did her personal detective work to establish the offender and helped police set a lure for him, in keeping with the report.
The sufferer instructed police that when she started noticing the unusual costs on her card, she went to a meat market the place the cardboard was used and acquire safety video footage that captured the individual utilizing it.
“She instantly acknowledged the suspect as an worker of Chuck E. Cheese,” in keeping with the police report.
The sufferer contacted police and met them on the Chuck E. Cheese’s restaurant.
An officer entered the restaurant, confirmed Jones was there and famous that the suspect, “gazed at me with broad eyes and squared his shoulders in a tensed method,” in keeping with the police report.
The officer briefly left the restaurant to inform the sufferer that Jones was working there, and the sufferer instructed the officer she wished to press costs.
Cruz and one other officer went again into the restaurant and questioned a feminine worker about Jones whereabouts within the enterprise.
“I requested the worker the place the gentleman was that was beforehand on the entrance gate submit, and if he was the one within the mouse go well with,” in keeping with the report. “She shook her head up and down indicating sure.”
