Sumter Police arrest suspect in food-licking spree, will test her for COVID-19
Sumter Police has arrested of a woman in connection with a food-licking spree earlier this week.
Shenir Gibson Holliday, 38, of Sumter, was taken into custody Saturday by Sumter Police Department officers, who were responding to reports of a suspicious person at the IGA on Pinewood Road.
She is being held at the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center on a $100,000 bond and being charged with aggravated breach of peace and food tampering. Gibson Holliday also was issued a citation for violation of the state home or work order and has been ordered to be tested for COVID-19.
Food tampering is a felony that carries a penalty of up to 20 years and aggravated breach of peace could result in a maximum 10-year sentence.
According to Sumter Police, video footage from the IGA showed Gibson Holliday licking her hands and coughing before pulling on freezer doors and touching food items. She was seen doing the same in the dry food section of the store.
Law enforcement has been looking for Gibson Holliday since late last week, when she was caught on video exercising similar behavior at the Sub Station II sandwich store at 1272 Peach Orchard Road in Sumter.
The Sub Station manager told officers that after the woman ordered her food, she licked her fingers as she handed money over to the clerk. Then she moistened her palm and spread it over the debit machine, police said. Next, she licked several quarters and dropped them in the tip jar, before finally heading for the exit, according to a police report.
Holliday has also been put on trespass notice for all Sub Station II locations.
Spreading saliva onto shared surfaces is one way to spread the contagious novel coronavirus if Gibson Holliday happens to have the virus.
This story was originally published May 3, 2020 at 3:37 PM.
