Unreturned VHS Tape From 1999 Makes Woman A Wanted Felon

NORMAN, OK — VHS tapes are largely a thing of the past.

In the years since they've been relevant, DVD players and Blu-ray discs have emerged, Blockbuster video stores are long gone, Redbox stations mostly gone, and the majority of movies now watched on digital platforms like Netflix and Hulu.

But one VHS tape in particular has, until now, given one woman trouble for more than two decades without her even knowing it.

Caron McBride, now a Texas resident, recently learned she had been wanted for felony embezzlement for not returning a VHS of "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" she rented in 1999, the former Oklahoman told the FOX affiliate in Oklahoma City.

"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 told the news station.

When she called the number, which turned out to be the office for the Cleveland County District Attorney's Office in Norman, Oklahoma, she was told she was wanted for not returning the tape.

"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, adding that she has no memory of ever renting the 1996 film that starred Melissa Joan Hart.

McBride told FOX she lived with a man who had two daughters in 1999, and that he likely did not return the tape to the now-defunct "Movie Place" store in Norman.

"Meanwhile, I'm a wanted felon for a VHS tape," McBride said.

Prosecutors in Cleveland County told FOX they have recently dropped the case, but McBride will still need to get her record expunged to have the unusual mishap completely off her record.

She told FOX that over the years she has been fired from a number of jobs without having been given a reason.

"This is why... because when they ran my criminal background check, all they're seeing is those two words: felony embezzlement."