Man with 'hot smoked sausages' in pants arrested

A man accused of sticking "hot smoked sausages" down his pants at a Hess station got a trip to lockup for his alleged afternoon absconding, according to a recently released arrest affidavit.

The man with the meat in his trousers - 62-year-old John Henry Brown - faces a misdemeanor petty theft charge following the reported July 3 sausage swiping at a Hess in the 4100 block of U.S. 1 in Vero Beach.

The victim told an Indian River County Sheriff's deputy that Brown walked in, took a pack of Gilchrist Brand hot smoked sausages and put them "down the back of his pants."

The "signature line" of the decades old Gilchrist Brand includes a variety of mild and hot smoked sausages in short and long lengths as well as bacon and souse. The corporate office is in Ocala.

Brown exited the store and as he got to the car he was riding in he looked back. He saw the victim on the phone "causing him to bend down and toss the sausages under the vehicle."

Investigators spied the shoplifted smoked sausage, valued at $4.99, under the vehicle's passenger side. Brown declined to speak with investigators. It wasn't immediately clear what happened to the smoked sausages.