Police investigate online prank video taken in supermarket

God these people are sick

We should be hearing about an arrest in a couple/few days on the news.

Perforate the perp with toothpicks. J/k

Hope catch that jerk soon.

With nails like that he plays guitar

What a moron.

I can't believe the police are planning on only charging this dimwit with obstruction of business, which I think is a misdemeanor. It seems like a light sentence for a crime geared toward potentially causing physical injury.

I would think a felony somewhere along the lines of reckless endangerment for this sort of product tampering would bring a much heavier, and more appropriate, sentence.

Jagariko! My favorite. It's not likely to hurt anyone unless he graduates to needles or shards of glass.

Very sick ...

The store was forced to pull many products from the shelves, and inform customers to be wary of a toothpick that may have been placed into the snack food,

Why? It was very clear which product the toothpick was placed in, and by the time the video was released, it would have surely been sold.

Maybe the buyer thought it was there to use, like the toothpicks that come with waribashi....

The video only shows one package, but he could have added into more off-video.

Safety first.

The man is obviously insane and funny.... and there is probably a good chance his fingerprints can be found on the package or maybe even from the video

Creepy, disgusting jerk with mental health issues, please catch this drop kick quickly, it should be easy to identify him from his youtube account.

Why? Is he bored...or let me guess......unemployed.

Even if they catch him, I hope this doesn't inspire any copycats.

No way this is a prank. Try swallowing a toothpick. Quite apart from breaking hygiene laws, he is endangering life. A danger to society.

Good long shots of the twerp's fingers in the video. Angie Montenegro could get clear fingerprints off that.

All they need to do is to either trace the IP address, or even easier, look at the security cameras and find a guy with nasty long nails.

Well if J-Cop able to take his finger print from HD video then he could be capture very easily.

Mina san genki desu ka? (That's so creepy)

I finally figured out where this is based on the fact that you can see a Shimamura on 3F and a Kaldi Coffee inside. It's the Tokyu store in Chofu.

Just paste this into google maps: 2 Chome 52-1 Kojimacho

..hope the store got CCTV

Zachary et al: " and there is probably a good chance his fingerprints can be found on the package or maybe even from the video"

Yeah, but why assume that the guy's fingerprints are on file at all? I highly doubt they would be, unless he's a foreigner.

It should be amazingly easy to catch this guy -- just get YouTube to give the registration information of the person who uploaded the videos. Since the guy is committing crimes, it's not an issue of privacy. I'm just surprised he would be charged with only obstruction of business and not add some endangerment charges.

eehhhh...scary guy. I'm not buying that packaged snack anymore.

What is it with these idiots? I remember quite a few incidents of needles being found in foods too. I reckon the cops should make him eat it.

@M3M3M3 i think you're right about the location, if so, that's some damn fine detective work! Might want to report to that Koban?!?

Thanks @bcmoney, but if I hadn't skipped over the first paragraph of the story that already identified the supermarket as being in Chofu, I could have saved myself alot of detective time! haha.. I guess the police already know too. I'm looking forward to seeing who they catch.

No way fingerprints can be taken from low-resolution video.

As a poster said, even if they had the fingerprints it would be worthless unless he is caught, or had been arrested previously.

Not likely anyone would swallow a toothpick, but the action IS very anti-social.

That sort of YouTube video should be immediately removed. No telling what copycat crimes might start showing up if idiots like him have this as a hobby.

They walk among us... I can't stand it...

Some people have nothing better to do than cause trouble and financial loss for a store and potential injury to unsuspecting consumers.

Finger prints on the product and on the toothpick.

The guys finger nails are really long. Is that a fashion these days?

It isn't even a "prank" since there isn't anything funny to it and it isn't really harmless. It is just an act of malicious vandalism.

So creepy. I'm wondering why he posted this video. To seek attentions?

I once caught a guy spitting on food on a super market ,I pointed him out to a member of staff

If you don't want to reveal anything, never use on-line. It is easy to find you. Also, never show your finger. It is easy to finde your fingerprint on video than you place on paper. Fingerprint identifier equipment is different than checking with cops eyes.

It would've been a bolder prank if he had went over to the fish section.

The long fingernails is a dead giveaway for an creepy otaku or mentally unstable Japanese male. Hey, I'm generalising, but I've seen it so often that it's more than just random.

The words "online prank video" are already enough to make me depressed.

Guys like this are a dime a dozen in japan. If they're not creepy shut-ins they're creepy sociopaths. japanese culture seems to really nuture this type of weird, unhealthy behavior. He should be easy to catch in this day and age. Please catch him before he moves on to sticking needles into bread, throwing bodily fluids, slashing skirts or stabbing passerbys.

Until there is actual in-store camera coverage of the entire sequence, who's to say there's not an accomplice walking right behind, immediately picking up the punctured package and then paying for it? As video pranks go, this one is twisted, but not very deceptive.

Ysyakky criminals are stupid. They don;t know their crime in stores are all csught on security csmers. police usually do not release mucxh and stires just keeo quiet until they catch stupid offenders.

In his other video, he stated that although he's taken some measure not to get caught (like making sure that his face is not reflected in the packaging of the products he vandalized, or visiting the same store twice), he said that even if he did get caught, he would only serve a little over a year since he is underage.

In another video, he criticized Japanese laws, because in many cases they allowed minors to get with crimes. He also stated that as long as he is still underage, and these laws allow minors to commit crimes with very relaxed punishments as the only consequence, he will continue to shoplift and vandalize merchandise.

"Until there is actual in-store camera coverage of the entire sequence, who's to say there's not an accomplice walking right behind, immediately picking up the punctured package and then paying for it?"

I would bet everything I have that is not the case.

@mirai He doesn't sound underage to me, could be, but something tells me he's a compuslive liar.

Sticking a toothpick into food in a supermarket then leaving. So where's the prank? Sounds like vandalism.

My feeling, too. To me, a prank should have a kind of logic to it or have a punchline. Put a fake fish in the fish freezer to see how people react or figure it out. Rearrange the magazine rack to create an amusing picture or message out of the cover images. This is just sick, harmful vandalism like setting a small fire or feeding Alka-Seltzer to seagulls.

He uploaded lots more videos, saying he wants to become the no1 store thief in Japan.

Another where he talks about the cops searching for him and he will sell his 3DS for 10000yen to escape.

He is leaving quiet a trail and cops should have him soon.

Could also be a false trail...he seems kind of clever. Reminds me of the movie, "catch me if you can", but not as clever