A Texas woman who did not realize she rented a VHS tape of Sabrina the Teenage Witch 22 years ago and did not return it from a place that shut its doors more than a decade ago recently discovered she was charged with a felony.
Even though the case was dismissed and expunged on Wednesday, Caron McBride is exploring her legal options. “It’s hurt me tremendously, and my family,” she told USA Today. “It makes me madder and madder the more I think about it.”
The 52-year-old was charged with felony embezzlement of rental property in Oklahoma, where she used to live back in March 2000, more than a year after the VHS tape of Sabrina the Teenage Witch was due to be returned, according to USA Today.
She believes her then-boyfriend, who had two young daughters, rented the tape under her name.
McBride did not find out about the outstanding warrant against her until she attempted to change her name on her license after getting married and moving to Texas from Oklahoma.
When McBride emailed the Department of Motor Vehicles in November to make an appointment, the agency responded on April 16 that she had to settle an issue in Oklahoma first. The email response contained a case number and a phone number for the courthouse.
“I called it and the lady … looked up the reference number and told me it was a felony embezzlement,” McBride said. “I thought I was going to [sic] have a heart attack.”
McBride suspects having the felony on her record cost her opportunities in the job market. Now, she is looking for an Oklahoma attorney, but some lawyers have turned down her case.
McBride said that lawyers told her that after her story made the local news, they received calls from people who went to jail in similar situations. Other people have gotten in trouble with the law for not returning VHS tapes.
In 2016, a North Carolina man had been pulled over for a malfunctioning tail light when he was told there was a warrant for a misdemeanor charge against him for not returning a VHS tape of Freddy Got Fingered.
In another incident in 2014, a South Carolina woman was at the sheriff’s office for an unrelated matter when she found out there was a warrant against her for not returning a 2005 VHS tape of Monster in Law.
She had to spend the night in jail before her bond hearing the next day when she was released on $2,000 bond.
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