A US woman who announced she'd won the lottery and would pay for everyone's purchases in an Ohio coat shop has been arrested after customers rioted when they realised it was a hoax.
Linda Brown was arrested yesterday after a shopping spree that began when she hired a stretch Hummer limousine to drop her off at a Burlington Coat Factory store in Colombus, police said.
Ms Brown allegedly walked to a cash register and loudly announced she had won the lottery and would pay for each person's merchandise up to $500. "Well, of course, people like to hear that," police spokesman Sgt Michael Deakins said. "Apparently they were in line calling relatives who were not at the store and told them to come."
People flooded the registers as cashiers began ringing up purchase after purchase, but Ms Brown had not yet paid the bill, Sgt Deakins said. At least 500 people filled the aisles and another 1,000 were outside trying to get in, he said.
"She was telling people she won $1.5 million," Sgt Deakins said. "But it ends up she didn't win anything. She had no money to pay for anything."
About an hour later, Ms Brown had the limousine driver take her to a bank to withdraw money, but she returned empty-handed, police Detective Steven Nace said. By then, store employees had called in two dozen police officers to handle the crowds.
Angry customers threw merchandise around and looted, leaving the store looking as though a hurricane had passed through it, police said.
Shopper Candace Jordan said she told Ms Brown she didn't need clothes, she needed help paying her rent. "And she said, 'How much is it?'" Ms Jordan told WBNS-TV. "And she promptly wrote out a check."
By the time employees discovered Ms Brown didn't have any cash to pay, she had already fled. Angry customers, realising they weren't getting free coats, then began throwing merchandise on the floor and grabbing clothes without paying for them, Det Nace said.
"Everybody was like, 'I still want my free stuff,' and that started the riot," he said. "It looks like (Hurricane) Katrina went through the store."
Police said they have no way of tracking down the customers who stole items and fled, but they're reviewing surveillance video.
When the limousine driver realised he wasn't going to be paid the $900 Ms Brown owed him for the day's rental, he turned her in to police, Ms Deakins said.
Ms Brown (44), was arrested on three outstanding warrants for aggravated menacing, misuse of a 911 system and causing false alarms. She was jailed yesterday, but no charges had been filed against her related to the coat store chaos pending a mental health evaluation.
A spokeswoman for Burlington Coat Factory, which is based in Burlington, New Jersey and has more than 300 stores across the US said last night she couldn't comment on the incident.
AP