Texas Walmart Blue Bell ice cream licker: D’Adrien Anderson sentenced 30 days in jail for ice cream stunt.
It must have been delicious. A 24-year-old man who filmed himself licking a tub of Blue Bell ice cream at a Texas Walmart before returning it to a shelf has been sentenced to 30 days in jail.
D’Adrien L’Quinn Anderson, of Port Arthur, was also given an additional 180 days probation over two years, and ordered to pay a $1000 fine and $1,565 in restitution to Blue Bell Creameries.
Anderson risked having been sentenced up to one year in jail and fined $4,000 for misdemeanor criminal mischief.
Anderson pleaded guilty to the class A misdemeanor charge before Judge Terrance Holmes on Jan. 15 in Jefferson County according to 12NewsNow.
Anderson began serving his jail sentence immediately after sentencing WGXA-TV reports.
#NEW The man known as the Blue Bell “Ice Cream Licker” will spend 30 days in jail, pay a fine of $1,000 along with another $1,565 to Blue Bell itself and be on a two-year probation
D’Adrien L’Quinn Anderson was sentenced recently in Jefferson County for the crime😷😷😷🍨🍨🍨 pic.twitter.com/EFhde3Rw1w— Christina Aguayo America’s🇺🇲 Daily Report (@TinaAguayotv) March 5, 2020
The incident initially took place in August 2019 when Anderson posted a 20-second social media video of himself opening a new tub of ice cream, licking it and even sticking his fingers in it.
Surveillance footage from the Walmart reportedly showed the Anderson later bought the ice cream.
He was later arrested by authorities and pleaded guilty to public mischief on January 16, 2019.
Anderson was surprised out how fast his video gained traction on social media.
‘I knew it was going to go viral, but I didn’t know it was going to go viral that fast,’ he told KDFM.
Addicted to the fix:
The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office explained in a statement that they treated the situation as ‘much more than a stunt.’
‘Anderson’s actions caused public concerns about the safety and quality of consumer products offered for public consumption, impacted Blue Bell consumer confidence and caused the company financial loss. This type of activity will not be tolerated,’ they said.
‘The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office and the Port Arthur Police Department want the public to know that such cases will be taken seriously and appropriate criminal charges will be filed.’
Of note, Anderson goes by ‘Dapper Don’ and ‘realarrogant’ on social media. The video he uploaded to Facebook and Instagram was viewed more than 170,000 times – a point of reference the prankster enthused about in an interview with 12NewsNow.
Publicity at whatever cost:
Anderson’s Facebook and Instagram accounts include multiple videos and pictures of him playing pranks on people.
One video shows him taking jars off a grocery store shelf immediately after an employee sets them up. Another shows him running onto the Toyota Center floor in the middle of a Houston Rockets game in Houston before security escorts him out of the arena.
He even joked about his ice cream-licking antics on August 21.
‘I love your ice cream #bluebell plz [sic] don’t ban me from buying it #im#sorry [sic],’ he wrote.
‘This guy loves publicity even if it’s for the wrong reason,’ Jefferson County District Attorney Bob Wortham told KFDM at the time. ‘That can lead to bigger and worse things. If we’re going to save this guy, we have to do it with this case or he’s over the hill.’
Walmart store’s staff was forced to dump its Blue Bell ice cream following public concern – at considerable cost after Anderson’s stunt.
