A Chuck E. Cheese’s mascot has been arrested in Florida after a buyer ratted him out as an alleged thief, police mentioned.
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 regarded on, in accordance 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 accordance with an arrest report from the Tallahassee Police Division.
A Chuck E. Cheese’s mascot in Tallahassee, Florida, carrying costume like one pictured right here, was arrested, July 23, 2025, at work and charged with stealing a buyer’s debit card, in accordance with a police report. (Getty Photos)
Getty Photos
“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 accordance with the report.
The officers mentioned they “exerted minor bodily effort inserting Jones’ arms behind his again,” in accordance 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 get together on the restaurant, in accordance with the report.
A Chuck E. Cheese’s mascot in Tallahassee, Florida, carrying costume like one pictured right here, was arrested, July 23, 2025, at work and charged with stealing a buyer’s debit card, in accordance with a police report.
Getty Photos
Jones was arrested on felony costs of larceny of a debit card, possession of one other particular person’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 objects 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 accordance 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 now have taken the suitable motion regarding 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 mentioned in an announcement to ABC Information.
The sufferer of the debit card theft reportedly did her personal detective work to determine the perpetrator and helped police set a entice for him, in accordance 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 procure safety video footage that captured the particular person utilizing it.
“She instantly acknowledged the suspect as an worker of Chuck E. Cheese,” in accordance 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 extensive eyes and squared his shoulders in a tensed method,” in accordance 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 publish, and if he was the one within the mouse swimsuit,” in accordance with the report. “She shook her had up and down indicating sure.”
