From criminal licking to thong masks, here are some of the weirdest coronavirus crimes

While experts have predicted crime will go down while Americans stay isolated during the pandemic, that hasn’t stopped a strange, new type of delinquency to emerge.

Coronavirus crime is popping up across the country.

It’s forced cops to remind residents to wear pants, to deal with family fights over toilet paper and to arrest defiant pastors. Let’s not forget about the criminal licking, coughing and spitting. (We have an entire section devoted to them.)

At times, the arrests have come with serious charges, including terrorism and weapons of mass destruction-related violations.

Here’s a look at what people are doing to get in trouble since COVID-19 hit the U.S.

Keep your pants on

Wearing clothing in public is still required, even while you’re hunkered down in a pandemic, cops say.

A Maryland police department took to Facebook to remind its residents that pants aren’t optional while getting the mail. Apparently, someone in the community needed this reminder.

Coronavirus rules are for everyone

An Illinois mayor made national headlines when he instructed police to enforce the state’s stay-at-home orders — even if it meant arresting his wife, the Belleville News-Democrat reported. The cops caught the wife with others at a local tavern, and everyone was charged, according to the McClatchy newspaper.

Mayor Brant Walker said his wife showed a “stunning lack of judgment” in this Facebook post.

Actor Keith Middlebrook, who had small roles in “Iron Man 3,” “Thor,” and “Moneyball,” was arrested by the FBI on accusations he touted a phony cure to the coronavirus, Fox News reported.

Florida megachurch pastor Rodney Howard-Browne was arrested after holding a service for hundreds of people, NBC News reported. Likewise, Louisiana pastor Tony Spell was charged with leading six church services in violation of a stay-at-home order, McClatchy reported.

Criminal licking, coughing and spitting

Lately, people lick, cough and spit on things they shouldn’t.

• Missouri cops arrested a man accused of filming himself licking deodorant in a Walmart. You can watch the video here.

• A Wisconsin woman “protested” coronavirus by licking the door handles of a grocery store freezer, police say.

• In Colorado, police say a woman who crashed into four cars spit on a cop and told him, “There’s some Corona for you, now all you need is a lime,” The Denver Post reported.

• A Texas man caught in possession of a “Baby Yoda” meth pipe while illegally digging at a Native American burial site coughed “aggressively” on police officers after telling them he had coronavirus, officials said.

• “Get COVID and die,” an angry woman told a Pennsylvania drive-thru worker after coughing on the employee, McClatchy reported.

Toilet paper crime

What does 18,000 pounds of toilet paper look like? Sheriff’s deputies found out when they opened the back of a stolen 18-wheeler in North Carolina last month.

A fight over toilet paper turned violent in California when a man punched his mom, accusing her of hiding it, police said. The mom had accused the son of using too much.

An Oregon police department tired of fielding calls from people who’ve run out of toilet paper finally had enough. They took to Facebook to air their grievance — offering a long list of alternative to what’s become a hard-to-find item.

Mad shoppers

Grocery stores are one of the few places we’re still allowed to go. So, it’s no surprise they’ve been the scene of coronavirus-related crimes.

A Texas man charged on violation of law criminalizing hoaxes related to weapons of mass destruction was accused of writing a coronavirus threat on Facebook, federal prosecutors said.

“My homeboys cousin has covid19 and has licked every thing for past 2 days cause we paid him too,” the Facebook said, according to court documents.

Police rushed to a Costco in California after shoppers got “irate” over shortages of paper towels, water and toilet paper.

In what turned out to be a huge waste of food, a Pennsylvania supermarket was forced to throw out $35,000 in groceries after a woman coughed on the items in a suspected coronavirus prank. Among her charges were felony terrorist threats and threats to use a biological agent.

Shoplifters accused of taking $1,200 in groceries in Ohio and $780 in energy drinks in California both used claims they had coronavirus in an attempt to elude arrest, police said.

More weird, strange lawbreaking

A man in a makeshift mask made from thong underwear beat up his friend, who had mocked him, Michigan police said.

“He obviously got mad and came back later and assaulted the guy,” police told McClatchy.

At a California hospital, a thief nabbed a COVID-19 sample that needed to be tested at a lab and left on a bicycle, the Sacramento Bee reported.

An 18-year-old was arrested in Texas after a series of Snapchat videos showed her threatening to spread coronavirus.

This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 5:26 PM with the headline "From criminal licking to thong masks, here are some of the weirdest coronavirus crimes."