Shoplifter gets Sesame Street punishment

An 18-year-old Virginia man who was caught shoplifting at a costume store has accepted a rather unusual punishment.



Andrew Perry, the owner of the Halloween Express costume store in Charlottesville, told the light-fingered teenager that he would not call the police - if instead the youth stood in front of the store with a sign saying he was caught shoplifting.

In a bizarre twist, Mr Perry also told the boy that he would have to dress as Sesame Street character Bert, as in Bert and Ernie. So the teenager agreed to spend six hours over two days in front of the store, in costume, holding a sign that reads: 'I got caught shoplifting at Halloween Express.'



Mr Perry said he came up with the unorthodox punishment because he didn't want the shoplifter to have a criminal record. He said: 'It could mess the rest of his life up - 18 years old, you go to get another job and it shows that you've been caught shoplifting. Nobody wants to have someone working for them who has a criminal background.'