Reason strained past the breaking point.
Ah, 1999. The year everybody was shitting themselves over Y2K, 12 years before everybody would be shitting themselves over the Mayan calendar. And in that year, in Oklahoma, a woman (or perhaps someone simply using her account/card) rented a copy of Sabrina the Teenage Witch on VHS from a video rental store. That tape was never returned.
Fast forward 20 years, and that same woman, Caron McBride, is now living in Texas. She had just gotten married again, and she went into the local DMV to change the name on her driver’s license. And that’s when she was notified that she had an embezzlement charge against her. Over the VHS tape.
Per McBride’s account as told to KOKH, the charges dated back to the year 2000, and she didn’t even remember renting the tape, assuming it was the man she was living with at the time or his daughters.
“I had lived with a young man, this was over 20 years ago. He had two kids, daughters that were 8, 10 or 11 years old, and I’m thinking he went and got it and didn’t take it back or something. I have never watched that show in my entire life, just not my cup of tea,” McBride said. “Meanwhile, I’m a wanted felon for a VHS tape.”
Caron McBride
According to the (now defunct) court records shared by KOKH, prosecutors at the time alleged that she “willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously embezzle[d]” the tape by not returning it after the 10-day deadline of the original rental agreement. Per the docket, the tape was worth $60 at the time (this strikes me as a bit of a stretch)… which still probably doesn’t count as enough for an embezzlement charge, to me; petty theft or shoplifting, maybe. Embezzlement is sort of like unloading a shotgun at an unsuspecting crow. Coincidentally, the store in question, Movie Place in Norman, Oklahoma, closed down in 2008.
Coincidentally, over the past 20 years, McBride had been let go from several jobs without warning or reason given. She believes it’s likely due to her employers running a background check and turning up an embezzlement charge.
“This is why… because when they ran my criminal background check, all they’re seeing is those two words: felony embezzlement,” McBride said.
Stars from the show weighed in on the case; notably, Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina) and Caroline Rhea (Aunt Hilda). Hart merely posted a shrug emoji, while Rhea stated “Seriously let’s all sign a script for her to help her out”.
There is a happy ending to all of this, though. The Cleveland court where McBride’s case was initially filed was ordered to drop the charges and expunge her record, according to KOKH’s Erika Stanish.
Source: Gizmodo
About Author
