South Carolina Woman Touches Food Products At Grocery Store After Licking Hands, Arrested

A woman was charged for licking her hands and touching food products at a grocery store amidst the coronavirus outbreak. The incident took place in South Carolina on Saturday (May 2).

The accused, identified as 38-year-old Gibson Holliday, of Sumter, was arrested and charged for licking her hands and coughing before pulling on the freezer doors at a grocery store and touching the food products. She also reportedly did the same with the food items at the dry food section of the store.

According to the Sumter Police Department, officers had responded to a call regarding a suspicious person at the IGA grocery store on Pinewood Road. They were able to identify the woman at the parking lot, after which, she was taken into custody. The woman was being held at the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office detention center.

Following the incident, officers reviewed the video footage from the security camera inside the store, which showed the accused licking her hands and coughing before proceeding to touch the food items.

She was charged with aggravated breach of peace and food tampering and her bail was set at $100,000. A COVID-19 testing was also ordered for her on Sunday morning. She also received a citation for violating the state home or work order which was implemented by Henry McMaster, Governor of South Carolina, to curb the spread of the deadly virus.

According to Sumter County Sheriff's Office, Holliday was charged earlier for a similar incident that took place near Peach Orchard Road in Sumter. The case was still being investigated.

As of Monday, the United States has reported 1,158,041 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and the death toll has reached 67,682. Meanwhile, a total of 3,507,424 cases have been confirmed worldwide.

In a similar incident that took place in March, a Pennsylvania woman was arrested for coughing on food items at a grocery store while claiming she was infected with COVID-19. Her actions reportedly led to a loss of $35,000 as the store had to throw away the food items. She was charged with two felony counts of terrorist threats, one felony count of threats to use a "biological agent", and one felony count of criminal mischief.