Fair Worker Charged With Fraud After Giving Players Hello Kitty Dolls They Didn’t Actually Win

(frankieleon) These are not the exact dolls fairgoers were looking for.

You’ve just shelled out a ridiculous amount of money to fling darts at a wall of balloons and hope you can somehow pop enough of them to win the giant stuffed prize that’s hanging there, taunting you in the face of your failure every time. Who hasn’t wanted to just slip a couple of extra bills to a fair worker to get the big Hello Kitty and win the day? Doing just that ended with a state fair worker in handcuffs for accepting bribes.

It all started with these large Hello Kitty dolls, reports News On 6 in Oklahoma. Seems they were so desirable, cops say fairgoers were handing over $40 to the worker in charge of a dart flinging balloon game to just give up the goods, when players hadn’t achieved the right to take home of the big things.

A deputy approached the worker’s booth at 9:30 on Saturday night, casual as could be, and asked how much he’d have to fork over to win the biggest prize there.

“The rules state that the participant must win a certain number of each size prize to trade up for a larger prize,” the deputy said in his report. “You continue to trade up until the largest prize is won.”

The worker allegedly informed him that for just $40, if he popped one balloon he’d let him have whichever prize his heart desired.

“I took a dart, popped a balloon on the first try, handed him $40 and asked for one of the largest prizes,” the deputy said. “He handed me the Hello Kitty that I asked for and I walked away.”

That’s a big no-no at the fair, prompting officials to arrest the 65-year-old man five minutes later

Tulsa County Assessor Ken Yazel and two reserve deputies arrested Feikema for fraud about five minutes later, according to the arrest report. Feikema, 65, was taken into custody.

I’m not sure if this is a “Yeah, justice!” moment or one of those situations where plenty of people might be tempted, in the face of all those disappointed fairgoers who try and fail to win The Biggest Prize There, to let someone be a winner, at least once.

Although then again, there’s bribery and fraud, and you can’t have that when carnival games are always totally fair and never rigged and everyone has an equal chance, right? Sure.

Hello Kitty Doll Lands Tulsa State Fair Worker In Jail [News On 6]

via Consumerist http://consumerist.com/2013/10/01/fair-worker-charged-with-fraud-after-giving-players-hello-kitty-dolls-they-didnt-actually-win/