Florida man pees on food inside Sam's Club, faces criminal charges
A man is facing criminal charges after police said he urinated on food at a Sam's Club in Central Florida, damaging more than $10,000 worth of meat.
The incident took place May 30 at a Sam's Club in Lady Lake, just over 50 miles northwest of Orlando, the Lady Lake Police Department reported.
Patrick Francis Mitchell, 70, was charged with disorderly conduct and criminal mischief with damages of more than $1,000, court documents obtained by USA TODAY show.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained, a customer in the store saw a man identified by police as Mitchell urinating in Aisle 18 in the store. The customer took a photo of the man and shared it with store employees, a police officer wrote in the report.
Employees reviewed the photo and store video surveillance, the affidavit continues, and watched the man walk up to two pallets of canned goods facing the shelf, placed both of his hands below the belt line and appear to urinate.
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The affidavit goes on to show that after the incident, the man was in the store for an additional 10 minutes, bought items, and then left.
"The defendant made no attempt to notify employees of the incident," the affidavit continues.
The mess forced store employees to throw out two pallets of canned Vienna sausage and spam resulting in a loss of more than $10,500, the court documents show.
It was not immediately known why the defendant did not use the restroom.
Mitchell entered a not guilty plea to both charges on June 10, online Lake County felony court records show.
It was not immediately known whether Mitchell had obtained an attorney.
As of June 17, Mitchell was not listed as an inmate in the Lake County jail.
USA TODAY has reached out to Sam's Club.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Man arrested for allegedly peeing on food at Sam's Club
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