A woman wanted for allegedly peeing on potatoes in a Pennsylvania Walmart has turned herself in, authorities said.
Grace Brown, 20, was charged Tuesday with indecent exposure, public drunkenness and criminal mischief in the July 24 incident caught on store surveillance video that launched a brief hunt for the alleged “potato pee-er” outside Pittsburgh.
Police said surveillance video showed Brown entering the West Mifflin store around 10 p.m. and later urinating on a bin of potatoes displayed at floor level. Store detectives called police, who identified Brown after releasing portions of the store video.
West Mifflin Police Chief Anthony Topolnak told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Brown was “not thinking” and she said she had no memory of what happened.
“Honestly I think she thought it was a toilet,” Topolnak said. “She pulls down her pants, squats, sits there, does her thing, pulls up her pants and leaves.”
Defense attorney Casey White told Pittsburgh station WPXI that his client is “obviously embarrassed” by what happened. He offered no reason why she did “what she allegedly did.”
Brown, accompanied by her attorney, surrendered at the West Mifflin police station after she was contacted by police and was released on a court summons. She was on probation at the time, WPXI reported.
A Walmart statement said the produce was immediately thrown away and the area cleaned.
“This type of obscene conduct is outrageous and we immediately disposed of the affected products and sanitized the area to ensure its cleanliness and safety for our customers,” the retailer told local media.
Brown’s arrest comes just days after another Walmart shopper was filmed in a viral video licking ice cream at a Texas store and then putting the container back inside the freezer.
That food offender was later identified by police as a 17-year-old San Antonio girl. Because she is a juvenile, she will not face a felony charge of tampering with a consumer product, which police had initially threatened.
Brown, according to her lawyer, wanted no part of internet fame.
“This was not a stunt. It was not an attempt to be a viral internet sensation,” White told the Post-Gazette. “She has no malicious ill will toward Walmart. This was just a young lady who made some poor decisions.”