California woman arrested after licking nearly $2K worth of groceries

A California woman allegedly licked nearly $2,000 worth of merchandise at a supermarket near Lake Tahoe, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Local law enforcement responded to a Safeway location in South Lake Tahoe on Wednesday “for the report of a customer ‘licking’ groceries inside of the store,” according to the Times.

Local woman arrested after “licking” items inside a #SouthLakeTahoe grocery store. @SLakeTahoePD arrested her on felony vandalism charges after $1800 worth of merchandise compromised. She is in the @ElDoradoSheriff jail on $10,000 bail. #StayAtHome https://t.co/6eBEOaPcKT pic.twitter.com/4bdyAXJuXN

— South Tahoe Now (@SouthTahoeNow) April 8, 2020

Employees said the woman, identified as 53-year-old South Lake Tahoe resident Jennifer Walker, licked then pocketed “numerous pieces of jewelry” and other goods. An employee told police the goods “were deemed unsellable due to the cross contamination” amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Walker was arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism and booked into the El Dorado County jail.

This isn’t the first time police have had to deal with people making light of the deadly pandemic; last month a 26-year-old Missouri man was arrested after he allegedly made a video of himself licking items at a Walmart in an attempt to mock the coronavirus, and on Tuesday an 18-year-old Texas woman was arrested after allegedly posting a Snapchat video claiming she was intentionally spreading the coronavirus.

Both were charged with making a terrorist threat.