Woman charged with felony for not returning VHS tape more than 20 years ago

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NORMAN, Okla. (KOKH) - A former Oklahoma resident recently learned she spent years as a wanted felon after she was charged for not returning a VHS tape rented more than two decades ago.

Caron McBride learned she was a wanted felon for not returning a VHS tape of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” to a Norman, Oklahoma, store 21 years ago, as she was talking to the Cleveland County District Attorney’s Office.

Online documents show McBride was charged with felony embezzlement of rented property in March 2000, but she didn’t know about the charges until recently when she tried to change her name on her license after getting married in Texas.


“The first thing she told me was ‘felony embezzlement,’ so I thought I was gonna have a heart attack,” McBride said.

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Documents show the tape was from Movie Place in Norman, which closed in 2008. McBride says she doesn’t remember renting the movie.

“I had lived with a young man. This was over 20 years ago. He had two kids, daughters that were 8, 10 or 11 years old. I’m thinking he went and got it and didn’t take it back or something. I don’t know. I have never watched that show in my entire life, just not my cup of tea,” she said.

McBride says over the last 20 years, she’s been let go from several jobs without being given a reason why, and now, it all makes sense.

“This is why. It’s because when they ran my criminal background check, all they’re seeing is those two words: felony embezzlement,” she said.

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The district attorney’s office said Wednesday it decided to dismiss the case against McBride.

Attorney Ed Blau with Blau Law Firm says McBride will need to have the case expunged in order to clear her record.

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