A sleeping man in a Bay City, Michigan, mall food court was arrested for allegedly shoplifting sex toys from a Spencer’s novelty store after having gotten engaged via a public proposal at a nearby Walmart, the Michigan news site MLive reports. The 25-year-old man, William Cornelius, is charged with third-degree retail fraud:
Deputies later located Cornelius sleeping in the mall’s food court, apparently having fallen asleep at a table while tying his shoes, court records show. They awoke Cornelius and searched him, finding on him a watch, an edible thong, a sex toy, panties, and sex candy from Spencer’s valued at a total of $80.93, court records show.
The Walmart proposal itself was a doozy, it sounds like:
Deputies went to Walmart, located at 3921 Wilder Road, where staff told them Cornelius had asked a customer service worker to read a proposal note over the public address system, asking his girlfriend to marry him, court records show. Staff provided deputies with surveillance camera footage showing the event, with Cornelius and his new fiancée hugging and kissing as people stand around them and applaud, court records show.
Cornelius’ fiancée was arrested nearby while “walking between Bob Evans and Taco Bell,” MLive says, and was in possession of stolen Walmart earrings and a necklace that a surveillance video appears to show her putting in her purse.
Again from MLive:
The woman told [police] the necklace and earrings they found on her were stolen, but she denied being the thief, adding again that she would not snitch on Cornelius, but changed her mind to say Cornelius was the culprit, court records show.
Cornelius has previously been convicted of a felony charge of “ethnic intimidation” after admitting he and a cousin had used racial slurs while provoking an altercation with a group of black men who were walking dogs near their residence at 4:15 a.m. on Aug. 11, 2014.
Bay City, Michigan, by the way, is where Madonna was born. She doesn’t live there any more, though.
