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Woman Charged with Embezzlement Over 20-Year-Old VHS Tape Rental
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Woman Charged with Embezzlement Over 20-Year-Old VHS Tape Rental

A woman faced embezzlement charges last week after it was discovered that she hadn't returned a rented VHS tape in 21 years.

Culture & Entertainment

You typically feel a pang of nostalgia at the mention of VHS tapes and movie rental stores. For a former Oklahoma resident, however, those heartstring tugs were more akin to an imminent heart attack than a walk down memory lane.

Caron McBride, who used to live in Oklahoma and has since relocated to Texas, was unaware that she was a wanted person for not returning a rented VHS tape for over 20 years. Documents show that the tape was taken out under her name in 1999 from "Movie Place" in Norman, Oklahoma. Like many now-obsolete VHS rental shops, Movie Place apparently shut in 2008.

McBride faced felony embezzlement charges for her act, as Fox25 first reported on Thursday, April 22.

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She only discovered she was a wanted person after trying to change her last name on her driver's license after getting married. The local authorities asked her to contact the Cleveland County District Attorney's Office, who then told her about the charges against her, which were filed in 2000.

Memory wiped clean

McBride didn't even remember ever renting out the VHS tape, which was of the show "Sabrina the Teenage Witch." She told Fox25 that she never watched the show and that the tape might have been rented out by a young man living with her back in Oklahoma, who had two young daughters.

Interestingly, McBride said that over the past two decades she'd been let go from several jobs without being given a reason. She now believes they might have seen the words felony and embezzlement during their criminal background checks and cut their losses.

Luckily for McBride, the Cleveland County District Attorney's Office decided to drop the charges against her and to expunge the indictment, as Fox25 reported in an update.

Talk about a blast from the past. Make sure to check if you have any old rental VHS tapes lying around in cardboard boxes in your garage or attic, as they might stir up more of a commotion than you'd like. But if you'd still like to hang on to some nostalgic moments, head to the last-standing Blockbuster brick and mortar store, which is now being rented out for up to three nights.