MELBOURNE, Fla. -- A man was arrested over the weekend, accused of smearing human excrement on food at a store.

  • Man accused of smearing feces on food
  • Happened at a Family Dollar in Melbourne
  • Police made him clean it up

But police say they made him clean it up.

An arrest report says Edwin Pierce, 31, walked into a Family Dollar store on Sarno Road Saturday and picked up some items. An employee told police that she observed him on cameras placing his hand down the back of his pants. She said she called police because she thought he was hiding items in his pants.

But police say when she went to the aisle he was in, she found feces on food, on boxes, on shelves and on the floor.

Police say Pierce paid for the items that he was had picked up and walked out of the store.

Police say they brought him back to make him clean up the mess, totalling some $40 in damages because the food had to be thrown out. 

Pierce was arrested for criminal mischief afterwards.