Apparently a person sprays bug spray on food at Mesa Wal-Mart

MESA, Ariz. (AP) — An arrest was made after a video posted on social media showing a man spraying insect killer on produce at a Mesa grocery store, police said.

In a video posted on “X,” formerly known as Twitter, on Dec. 19, 27-year-old Charles Smith is seen singing “Hot Shot Ultra Bed Bud and Flea Killer” on Bananas, Potatoes, Lemons , lime and fried chicken sprays at a Walmart in Mesa.

According to the post on “X,” the original video has been deleted from social media. 12News found the original posts from Smith’s TikTok page, which included several videos. Some showed Smith seemingly locking people in a Goodwill and throwing food at people in a mall.

Mesa police said they notified store management and said “all potentially affected products have been removed from all areas open to the public.”

A Walmart spokesperson sent this statement to 12News:

“The health and safety of our customers and employees is always our top priority. We have removed all directly affected products and cleaned and disinfected the affected area of ​​the store. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our customers while we work to resolve this issue. We will continue to work closely with law enforcement throughout the investigation.”

Local patrons like Ramon Soberanes were shocked after seeing the video, calling the person’s actions “disgusting” and “horrible.”

“This is where people shop for their families,” Soberanes said. “It’s very possible that a mother took some for her children.”

According to police, around 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 19, Smith entered the Walmart on Stapley Drive “with the intent of filming pranks for social media,” but instead picked up a can of the insect killer from a shelf without paying for it, and sprayed the contents on vegetables, fruit and fried chicken for sale.

Smith’s latest stories page features two separate videos in which he places the items he claims were sprayed with insecticide into a cart and then pushes the cart filled with items into what appears to be a Truck looks like. One of the captions claimed that he had thrown the items away, although this is not shown in the video.

In court documents, police said Smith returned 10 minutes later and “attempted to collect the items he sprayed,” similar to his recent videos. However, police said Smith did not throw the items away, but rather rolled them to the back of the store. It is unknown if Smith was able to collect all of the items he sprayed.

The rest of the products Walmart removed totaled $931,000, according to court documents.

“It should be noted that the time between defendant spraying the items and placing them in the shopping cart allowed customers sufficient time to pick up and purchase the contaminated items,” court documents state.

Smith was identified by both Mesa police – who said they had had previous contact with him – and Tempe police, who have an ongoing case against him. His previous charges include shoplifting, theft of property and false reporting, according to court documents. Smith’s active arrest warrant in Tempe is for failure to appear.

Police contacted Smith, who then voluntarily turned himself in, court documents say.

When questioned by police, Smith said he had “read comments online saying how terrible the act was,” so he decided to return the items and pick them up. He also admitted that if the pesticides he sprayed on the produce and food were ingested by someone who purchased the items, they could have become ill and possibly even gone to the hospital.

Smith stated that he performed such “pranks” as a social media “troll,” court documents said. He also told police that he could earn between $6,000 and $10,000 a month by committing acts like this and posting them on social media.

Smith faces numerous charges including:

• Introducing poison (a felony)
• Criminal damages (misdemeanor accusation)
• Endangerment (misdemeanor charge)
• Theft (misdemeanor charge)

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