Sabrina the Teenage Witch VHS Leads to a Felony Charge

A Texas woman has taken her case public after learning that a video rental store had pressed felony charges against her in 1999 for a never-returned rental copy of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. According to Caron McBride, she never rented the VHS tape, but a Movie Place video store in Norman, Oklahoma, reportedly pressed charges when the tape wasn’t returned. Movie Place is no longer in business, but after she married and wanted to change her name, she discovered that a warrant was out for her arrest on felony charges of embezzlement of rental property, presumably filed by the video store before it closed.

Video rental stores still exist, albeit in much smaller numbers, and with no remaining chains following the closure of Family Video’s retail stores earlier this year. It was not uncommon for renters who did not return videos to be sent to collections, although in most cases, criminal charges were less common.

Per an interview with USA Today, McBride is exploring legal options, as she claims to believe an outstanding felony might have cost her career opportunities.

“It’s hurt me tremendously, and my family,” McBride said. “It makes me madder and madder the more I think about it.”

The case was dismissed and her record expunged on Wednesday, according to the report.

McBride said she thinks her ex-boyfriend likely rented the tape, as he had daughters who might have watched the show, which she claims to never have seen. In most chain video stores like Blockbuster or Hollywood Video, customers would have a membership card which would allow them to rent without showing identification. Smaller stores typically have more variable policies. It’s also possible McBride could have authorized her then-boyfriend to rent on the account, which would have allowed him to rent without her present.

“I went to change my driver’s license, during this COVID thing you had to make an appointment, and so, I sent them an email (and) they sent me an email and they told me… that I had an issue in Oklahoma and this was the reference number for me to call this number and I did,” McBride said.

After revealing the felony charges, “She told me it was over the VHS tape and I had to make her repeat it because I thought, this is insane. This girl is kidding me, right? She wasn’t kidding,” McBride said.

The charges were reportedly filed in March of 2000, with the store closing in 2008.