Weighing in at 600 pounds, this Florida man answered to criminal charges of stealing food from restaurants and convenience stores.
Here's what happened: George Jolicoeur, 38-years-old, was arrested in August 2007 after attempting to get a refund on $50 worth of beef-jerky he had eaten. He claimed there was mold on the last few scraps. The 7-11 store was suspicious of his claim starting a chain of events that ended in his arrest and eventual sentencing on fraud and petite theft convictions three years later.
Here's a photo of George when he weighed only 500 pounds at age 33.
It turns out that Jolicoeur had been doing the same song and dance all over town.
Restaurants and convenience stores in the Orlando, Florida area were becoming aware of the obese man with labored breathing who would go into stores or restaurants and consume huge quantities of food.
He would then claim there was something wrong with the food and refuse to pay after he had eaten it.
His scam had been going on for a few years.
There was the time he drank five milk shakes before finding a hair in the last few drops of the last shake refusing to pay for the milk shakes.
Then there was also the time he bought 10-gallons of Breyers ice cream,.claiming that the ice cream cartons were damaged and demanded a refund.
But it was the beef-jerky that got him.
By the time he pulled the beef-jerky scam, the stores were on to him.
He was arrested and charged with fraud and petty theft. But now, in the two years since his arrest he has gained more weight, became ill and is bedridden. He is now in a nursing home and on a respirator.
Jolioeur didn't have to appear in court for sentencing because of his physical condition. His attorneys made a plea bargain and entered a plea of ‘no contest’ to five counts of misdemeanor petty theft.
He will have to pay $1,365 in court costs plus restitution.
He won't be going to jail or even placed on probation.
The Seminole County court decided it was too expensive for the state to imprison him. Besides, as the Assistant State Attorney said, he’s already in his own prison cell.
In related news:
Fire officials said a six-hundred pound man (not George) was in being cremated when his body fluids were too much for the oven. The body fluids seeped out onto the floor and ignited causing a fire at the Garner Funeral Home in Salt Lake City.
"Those fluids can be very flammable," said Scott Freitag of the Salt Lake City fire department. "Sort of like a grease fire." An employee used an extinguisher to put out the fire
We are told, a six-hundred-pound body can create problems during a cremation.
"It really does condense or breaks down that fat into a greasy product, just like a grease fire,"
"Only a little bit can cause a flame to go up."
