A Kansas man has been sentenced for a pair of bizarre incidents in 2021, in which he terrorized workers at local grocery stores, reported The Wichita Eagle on Thursday.
"In one incident, on Jan. 8, 2021, James Adam Hirsh reportedly became enraged with pharmacy workers at the Dillons on 47th South and Broadway who couldn’t find his records during a computer system outage and smeared his spit all over a counter, credit card machine, monitor and keyboard — all while claiming he had a COVID-19 infection, court records say," reported Amy Renee Leiker. "Five months later, on June 2, 2021, authorities have said he became physically violent, threatened to retrieve a gun to shoot staff and drove his car toward the entrances of the Dillons at 31st South and Seneca after workers refused his demands to remove bottles of Chick-Fil-A sauce from the sales floor, according to Wichita police and court records."
"Hirsh’s actions in the January incident disrupted employee work flow and customer service because everything he touched had to be disinfected. His June 2 tantrum left the store on lockdown for more than two hours, court records say," said the report. "Hirsh pleaded guilty on March 2 to two amended counts of criminal threat — one for each incident— and had three other charges dismissed in exchange, court records show."
According to the report, Hirsh received a suspended sentence of five months in prison, contingent on completing a year's probation.
Dan Dillon, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office in Sedgwick County, said, “If he violates probation, he could serve the 5 months.”
This comes amid another high-profile criminal incident in Kansas; a man identified as J. Dustin D. Cain was arrested for exposing himself in a Walmart after being caught on a viral video smashing cases of Busch Light beer. No motive has been given for that incident, although it comes at a moment that right-wing figures have demanded a boycott of Bud Light, a brand made by the same company, for using a transgender influencer in a commercial.
