Spam generally isn’t the most popular meat in America. Many people see it as a low-quality option since it’s basically made from ground-up, unknown cuts of meat. Still, that doesn’t make it right for someone to intentionally spoil food. Unfortunately, a bizarre and disgusting incident recently took place at a Sam’s Club in Central Florida.
The incident involved a 70-year-old man named Patrick Francis Mitchell. While visiting a Sam’s Club in Lady Lake, he decided it was a good idea to urinate on some meat in the store. This happened in Aisle 18, where another customer noticed him and quickly took a photo. The customer reported what happened to the store employees right away.
Sam’s Club staff reviewed the photo and then checked the surveillance cameras, which were positioned throughout the store. The footage showed the man walking over to a section with multiple cases of canned goods near the shelves. He then appeared to urinate on them, fully exposing the products to contamination.
What’s even more shocking is that the man did not leave immediately. Instead, he stayed in the Sam’s Club store for another ten minutes and even bought some items before walking out. Despite being canned, no one wanted to purchase food that had been urinated on.
As a result, the store was forced to discard both pallets of canned Vienna sausages and spam. The total loss was estimated at over $10,000. It did not take long for police to track him down, but Mitchell still pleaded not guilty to the charges.
He has been charged with disorderly conduct and criminal mischief, though there is no current record of him being listed as an inmate. As of now, no one knows why he chose to urinate on store products instead of simply using the restroom at the Sam’s Club.
Though it was undeniably a disgusting incident, not many people seemed particularly outraged by the Florida man’s actions. One Redditor joked, “That’s a lot of pee,” while others weren’t surprised that the event happened in Florida, a state often known for its colorful and unpredictable headlines.
Some users questioned the reported $10,000 in damages, especially since the contaminated items were mainly canned Spam. However, others pointed out that the man may have urinated on the larger versions of the product, which are more expensive. One user explained, “Apparently there’s a 1.8kg can of Spam that would be about $15 to $20. That would account for a large chunk of the total damages.”