A lady who made waves in the public after posting a viral video of herself licking an ice cream container and then putting it back in the grocery store freezer might spend up to 20 years behind bars.
In the video, an unidentified woman is seen in a Walmart store in Lufkin, eastern Texas, opening an ice cream carton, licking it, and then laughing and putting it back in the freezer.
It sounds like a man—possibly the one shooting the joke—is smiling and actively urging the woman to “lick it, lick it.”
The Fourth of July joke may have ended, but authorities did confirm that the lady may be charged with a second-degree felony for tampering with a consumer product, according to NBC News.
According to the Texas state penal code, the charge carries a sentence of two to twenty years in jail and fines of up to ten thousand dollars. The FDA and investigators are currently in communication, therefore the woman may face further federal charges.
Police announced on Wednesday, July 3, that they may have identified the lady even though her identity is still unknown to the public. This is because “detectives had obtained surveillance video placing a woman matching the suspect description in the Lufkin store on June 28 around 11 p.m.”
Before releasing an arrest warrant, police are awaiting confirmation. Additionally, the man’s identification is still being looked into.
In an interview with NBC News, the spokesperson stated, “Our detectives are working to verify the female suspect’s identity before issuing a warrant for her arrest on a charge of second-degree felony tampering with a consumer product.” Detectives are concentrating on identifying the man (wearing a green shirt) behind the camera in the pictures where the two are seen entering the store together as that part of the inquiry progresses.
The company that makes the ice cream the woman licked, Blue Bell Creameries, responded on the episode, calling it a “malicious act of food tampering.”
As a precaution, the business has withdrawn all tubs that have the same flavor as the one that the woman licked in the video from the store’s shelves. They verified that among those taken out was the tainted tub.
In a previous statement, the company also guaranteed customers that they would quickly detect any manipulation when opening a brand-new tub since its product cartons are produced by freezing them upside down, which forms a natural seal with the lid.