The old-school Sabrina: The Teenage Witch series starring Melissa Joan Hart was a classic ’90s sitcom. The series ran for a total of seven seasons (1996-2003), with four airing during ABC’s “T.G.I.F.” slot, and the last three airing on The WB.
The series was a product of the ’90s, as were video rental stores like Blockbuster and the like. Back in the day, you would go to a rental place and pick up a copy of an old or new movie or show…and sometimes you forgot to return them on time, or at all.
And now, one Oklahoma woman is feeling the long-term effects of that. According to Fox 25 News, Caron McBride realized that she had committed a felony while trying to renew her driver’s license in a new state. She reached out to the district attorney’s office back in Oklahoma only to learn that she had an arrest warrant out in her name for forgetting to return a VHS copy of Sabrina: The Teenage Witch VHS tape 21 years earlier.
Remember these? Yeah, that's a VHS tape.
— Erika Stanish (@Erika_Stanish) April 22, 2021
TONIGHT- an Oklahoma woman is trying to clear her record after learning she was charged w/ felony embezzlement for never returning 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' on VHS tape from a 'Movie Place' 21 YEARS AGO. Hear from her on @OKCFOX at 9. pic.twitter.com/CE4aModOhI
Do the crime, do the 21-year-old late fee fine
The place she rented the tape from, the Movie Palace, went out of business back in the mid-2000s (along with every other rental store in the world). Despite the closure, the overdue charge never went away, and morphed into something much bigger.
As it ends up, McBride doesn’t even recall renting the video in the first place.
"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, and I’m thinking he went and got it and didn’t take it back or something. I have never watched that show in my entire life, just not my cup of tea…Meanwhile, I’m a wanted felon for a VHS tape…I mean, I didn’t try to deceive anyone over Samantha [sic] the Teenage Witch. I swear."
She didn’t even know the name of the show! Luckily for McBride, the DA’s office looked over the case and dropped the charge. Considering VHS tapes are now obsolete and the company that tried to charge her is no longer around, that seems like the only appropriate outcome.
Thanks to the advent of streaming services, we don’t have to worry about those pesky late fees anymore, and can watch Sabrina: The Teenage Witch to our heart’s content without being charged with a felony. But still, I have a sudden itch to go look through forgotten boxes to make sure I’m not hanging onto any old VHS rentals…
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h/t SYFY Wire