This is the one who purchased the ice cream after licking it on film. He got a slap on the wrist.
Ice cream licker pleads guilty
A Belle Rose man who was arrested over the summer for licking and sticking his finger in a container of ice cream at a grocery store was ordered to pay a fine, Assumption Parish prosecutors said.
Lenise Lloyd Martin III, 37, was charged on July 6 with criminal mischief and unlawful posting of criminal activity for notoriety and publicity, the Assumption Parish Sheriff’s Office said.
He pleaded guilty to the unlawful posting of criminal activity charge on Nov. 21, prosecutors said. After accepting Martin’s plea, District Judge Thomas Kliebert Jr. ordered him to pay a $150 fine plus court costs in the amount of $189. He was given the option of performing 34 hours of community service instead of paying the fine and costs.
Martin entered the Big B’s Supermarket at 7107 La. 1 in Belle Rose and was filmed licking and sticking his finger into a container of Blue Bell ice cream before putting it back on the shelf, police said.
A video showing the incident was then posted to social media, police said. After store employees became aware of the video, they alerted the Sheriff’s Office, sheriff’s Capt. Lonny Cavalier said.
During questioning, Martin told deputies he wanted to become famous by making a video of himself licking ice cream after becoming inspired by a similar social media stunt a week earlier, authorities said.
Martin was taken into custody and booked into the Assumption Parish jail, where he was late released on bond.
Martin’s incident came after a viral video surfaced of a woman taking the lid off of a container of Blue Bell and licking the ice cream at a Walmart in Texas.
“He was basically a copycat,” Cavalier said. “At the time when he tampered with the goods he had not bought them, so our position is that he clearly didn’t own the container of ice cream that he opened and stuck his finger into and licked. Therefore, he was tampering with a product.”
As deputies were interviewing Martin he showed them a receipt that indicated he bought a container of ice cream identical to the one that he had opened, Cavalier said.
“The first thing we did was go into the ice cream cooler and check all the ice cream to be sure the container he took was not there,” Cavalier said.
Assistant District Attorney Lana Chaney prosecuted the case.
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Staff Writer Dan Copp can be reached at 448-7639 or at @DanVCopp.
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