A Villager is having a tough time living down his decision to pee on a pallet of Spam in 2025 at Sam’s Club.
Producers from the A&E Network were in town this past week to film a television feature highlighting unusual police cases. The A&E team conducted an interview with Detective Ronnie Williams of the Lady Lake Police Department.
Williams had the task of investigating the case of 71-year-old Patrick Francis Mitchell of the Village of Piedmont, who peed on the Spam and then fled the store. The story inspired headlines of mockery around the world.
“It was certainly a strange case—one of those situations where truth is stranger than fiction,” said Lady Lake Police Chief Steven Hunt.
A lady shopper in Sam’s Club in May spotted Mitchell “urinating in Aisle 18,” according to an affidavit of probable cause from the Lady Lake Police Department. The woman used her cell phone to take a photo of Mitchell and she showed the photo to store employees.
Sam’s Club employees reviewed the surveillance footage which clearly showed that Mitchell, “walked up to two pallets, facing the shelf, placed both hands in front of him below the belt line, and stood there for several seconds,” according to the affidavit, noting it was, “behavior consistent with urination.”
Initially, the store employees calculated the loss of product at more than $10,000.
Mitchell used his Sam’s Club membership identification card when he entered the store. A detective from the police department used Mitchell’s Sam’s Club ID and matched it with the store surveillance imagery and ultimately Mitchell’s photograph on his Florida driver’s license. Mitchell was arrested on a warrant on June 3 by Marion County sheriff’s deputies at his home on SE 177th Winterthur Loop. His wife bailed him out of jail.
Mitchell eventually agreed to enter into a pre-trial intervention contract in Lake County Court. He was ordered to pay $8,000 in restitution and 20 hours of community service.