French teenager facing jail after licking straw and putting it back into dispenser
A French teenager is facing two years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines after a stunt where he licked a straw and put it back into the vending machine.
Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien has been charged with mischief and public nuisance after uploading a video of the prank on March 12.
Captioned: ‘City is not safe’, the clip quickly went viral and was reported, sparking an investigation.
The vending machine company, which is known for providing freshly squeezed orange juice, saw the video and said it had replaced the hundreds of straws in the machine as a precaution.
Today, a court allowed him to leave the country for a school trip to the Philippines, but he must be contactable by an investigating officer.
A spokesperson for Maximilien’s school – Essec Business School – said it was aware of the allegations and was investigating.
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In the meantime, Maximilien’s parents have flown to Singapore ahead of his court case on May 22.
Similar food-related hygiene stunts have gone viral in the past, including one instance where a young girl licked a tub of ice cream and put it back into the store freezer.
She was filmed by her unseen boyfriend, who said, ‘You vile!’ as he watched the stunt unfold.
Police in Lufkin, Texas, tracked down the girl, but didn’t release her name because she was under 17.
Law enforcement officials previously said the girl could have faced up to 20 years behind bars if convicted on a felony food tampering charge.
Food tampering has also been an issue in the UK. In 2023, a factory worker was jailed after ‘maliciously’ contaminating food destined for Nando’s.
Garry Jones, 38, worked for Harvey & Brockless Fine Food Company, based in Evesham, Worcestershire, which supplies restaurants across the country.
He worked as a ‘picker’ on the late shift and was responsible for collecting ingredients for the next day’s cooking – but he was caught on CCTV contaminating food products.
He was seen putting rubber gloves, plastic bags, and metal ring pulls in salad dressing and Nando’s hummus.
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