A Washington man was arrested earlier this week after sheriff's deputies said he grabbed handfuls of a little girl's birthday cake.
The 9-year-old girl's mother had brought the cake Tuesday afternoon into the Cowlitz County Hall of Justice while she took care of a personal matter.
A sheriff's deputy said the woman didn't want to leave the cake in her car because she feared her dog would eat it, KATU-TV reported.
She brought the cake through a metal detector at the entrance and set it on a table, where deputies said 50-year-old Robert Fredrickson began grabbing handfuls and eating it.
A deputy said he confronted Fredrickson at a drinking fountain as he tried to wash the cake from his hands.
He told Fredrickson to stay where he was while the deputy went to get some towels to clean him up, but he said the man went back for more cake.
"And then all hell broke loose," said Deputy Joe Connor.
Authorities said Fredrickson struggled with deputies as they tried to arrest him, knocking over the table and sending the cake flying.
Fredrickson was eventually taken into custody and charged with third-degree theft and resisting arrest.
A local Safeway bakery offered to replace the girl's cake, the station reported.
Watch the video below from KATU-TV, broadcast Oct. 2, 2013:
