Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/03/05/ice-cream-licker-jailed.html
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Aside from the gross-out factor, there is consideration of the current coronavirus scare to take into effect.
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I suspect he was prosecuted because his gross viral video made people like District Attorney Bob Wortham experience anger and resentment.
Seriously Rob? I have no idea who DA Bob Wortham is, but you seem to have a low opinion of him.
In this age of infections diseases that I won’t name; we can’t have these social media jackasses encouraging copycats as below:
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Oh come on. What he did was purposely create the impression that he had contaminated ice cream intended for public consumption, creating public panic at a time when fears of infectious diseases are at an all-time high. It also damaged the reputation of the ice cream company and cost business to the store. This was not a victimless crime.
Do stupid shit, win stupid prizes.
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I fully support this decision. It was an act of utter idiocy that will encourage copycats.
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If the influencers would really like to impress me, they can film themselves licking coronavirus samples and then putting them back in the rack. I’ll upvote that shit.
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I don’t know what Rob is insinuating, but I do think it is interesting how laws are applied.
If I take an empty can of soda to the register to pay with the rest of my groceries, no one would have a single care, even though that is apparently illegal and punishable up to a year.
But an incident that is more like assault is labeled with this almost unrelated consumption law. Kind of whacky!
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30 days and $1000? And security shows him buying it on the way out?
If I’m in the produce section, and I look for the best apple I can using unwashed hands even if it means picking up a few and putting it back, do I have to do time (possibly get fired, evicted, etc)
The stupid prize should be on par with the severity of the stupid shit. Community service or a $100 fine would probably be in order, as long as him being banned from that Wal-Mart. But throwing a dude in jail?
Let me take a peek at the Texas DA and the culprit…Ah, now I see the problem. If it was some 18 y/o little white sorority girl, do you think she’d be headed for the clink for a month?
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A $100 fine probably wouldn’t even cover the time and resources it took to investigate whether he actually purchased the ice cream.
I guess I’d be OK with community service over jail time as long as it was significant enough to be a real deterrent.
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Bullshit.
First, let’s back up to July 2015, when almost all Blue Bell ice cream was pulled from shelves due to listeria, a crisis that almost shuttered the Texas institution, and led to them requiring a huge injection of cash from a new partner to stay afloat. They still call this the Summer Without Ice Cream, or Great Blue Bell Famine of 2015. People her take this seriously.
(Here, here’s a frame of reference at least New Engalnders might understand: imagine he licked all the Tastykakes.)
Move forward to June 2019, and this sort of recall was in mind when a woman was caught on security cameras licking a tub of Blue Bell in Lufkin, TX. Police caught up with her in early July. Then they also had to toss out the entire freezerof ice cream. Turns out she’s a minor, so no names or photos, which is good because an adult would probably have been torched by an angry mob.
This guy, who performed the stunt in August 2019 was clearly imitating her as part of some very poorly conceived joke. He was at least the second copy cat.
So no, the DA doesn’t have it in for this guy because of the video. He has it in for this guy because that’s disgusting, a menace to public health, encouraging other jackasses, and because people wanted to bury the last woman. $1000 and 30 days is a slap on the wrist.
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No, but everyone had to pay monetary damages to cover the cost of their crimes, there would be a lot more white-collar criminals with their wages garnished for life 
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Not seeing the downside there.
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I think it’s about expectation. One can generally assume that an apple or other produce should be washed before consuming, because of handling and/or pesticides.
Ice cream is assumed to be ready for consumption straight out of the container.
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Washing sugary desserts before eating them is asking for disappointment.
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Why hasn’t blue Bell added tamper resistant plastic rings yet? Seems like this company in particular would like to keep their name out of the news.
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I was thinking of this exact video pertaining to washed ice cream. 
Jinx, buy me a Coke. But please don’t backwash it first. 
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I’ve seen people unscrew the lid of a sauce, sniff it, rescrew it and put it back on the shelf (non-refridgerated).
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I dearly wish we could take all the social media prankers and strand them together on an island, maybe one with Fire Fyre in the name.
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I think it’s an unfair comparison.
Everybody touches the produce with their hands to put it in the cart… everybody!
No one licks the ice cream to put it in the cart.
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At least there’s the safety pop-up lid to alert you.
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