WARNING: Videos linked to in this story contain profanity
Police in Texas say they believe they have found the woman seen in a viral video opening a tub of ice cream and taking a lick before returning it to the store’s freezer.
A spokesperson for the Lufkin Police Department said detectives are working to verify the identity of the female suspect before a warrant is issued for her arrest on a charge of second-degree felony tampering with a consumer product.
In an update posted on Facebook late Wednesday, the Lufkin Police Department said they obtained surveillance video from a local Walmart that showed a woman who matched the female suspect’s description.
“Detectives believe they have the woman identified and the investigation is ongoing,” the post read.
In the meantime, the police spokesperson said detectives are focusing on identifying the man heard behind the camera in the viral video.
“Detectives will continue to work through the holiday (Fourth of July) on this case,” Public Relations Specialist Jessica Pebsworth said in an email to CTVNews.ca on Thursday.
Photos from the surveillance video showed the female suspect entering the Walmart with a male companion in a green shirt.
The viral video was first shared on Twitter on Saturday and shows a young woman pull off the lid of a Blue Bell Ice Cream container and lick the surface of the Tin Roof-flavoured ice cream as a man behind the camera is heard encouraging her. She then replaces the lid and puts the tub back into the freezer.
The video has garnered more than 11 million views and thousands of comments with many denouncing the woman’s actions.
Lufkin police said Blue Bell Creameries contacted them on Wednesday afternoon to tell them they believe the incident occurred at a local Walmart there.
“Earlier this morning, Blue Bell corporate instructed all of its division managers to see if they could identify the store location. Within an hour of the corporate plea, a Lufkin division manager called, saying he believed it was Lufkin Walmart,” the police update said. “He based this on the store’s unique merchandising which matched the video.”
In a statement on their website, the Texas-based creamery said they identified the Walmart in Lufkin as the store where the “malicious act of food tampering” took place.
“We found a Tin Roof half gallon that appears to have been compromised. Based on security footage, the location and the inspection of the carton, we believe we may have recovered the half gallon that was tampered with,” the company said.
Blue Bell Creameries also said they removed all half gallons of the Tin Roof flavour, which consists of vanilla ice cream with chocolate fudge swirl and peanuts dipped in dark chocolate, from that location “out of an abundance of caution.”
Gerald Willimson, Lufkin’s director of public safety, said appropriate charges will be filed in the case.
“Our biggest concern is consumer safety – in that regard we are glad to see the tainted product off the shelves,” Williamson said in the police update on Facebook.
