Bread Squeezer 'Kneads' Help, Judge Rules

Sept. 22 -- A Pennsylvania man convicted of pinching and crushing hundreds of dollars worth of baked goods in local supermarkets must seek psychological help or risk going to jail, a judge ruled today.

Prosecutors claimed Samuel Feldman, 37, was on a three-year bread-squeezing spree at a series of stores in Lower Makefield, Pa., routinely poking holes in cookie wrappers and loaves of bread, rendering them unsellable.

Feldman could have faced possible probation and up to a $1,000 fine, but it looks like he squeezed by without punishment. Judge David Heckler postponed sentencing indefinitely today.

He suggested Feldman see a psychologist for evaluation of what the judge said was a compulsive behavioral problem.

Heckler said could have sentenced Feldman to jail time, but said he would not impose punishment as long as Feldman got whatever kind of treatment a health care professional deemed necessary.

A Bucks County jury had reached a split verdict after six hours of deliberations Thursday, finding Feldman guilty of damaging cookies but not bread.

The judge reversed the decision, however, and convicted Feldman of two counts of criminal mischief for damaging bread and cookies worth less than $1,000.

Caught Bread-Handed

A surveillance videotape introduced as evidence showed Feldman manhandling the baked goods on several occasions at a Lower Makefield Giant Food supermarket, which suffered $8,000 in damage to its bread and cookies over three years.

Feldman’s lawyer, Ellis Klein, said his client was only testing the bread for freshness when he was caught on film, and that he wasn’t responsible for the previous bakery assaults at the store.

“Touching multiple loaves of bread does not mean that you’re damaging. Their whole case is based on an assumption that he’s acting weird, therefore, he must be the guy who did it,” he said.

Feldman, who was arrested in January, originally had been charged with all the baked goods damage at Giant Foods, including 175 bags of bagels, 227 bags of potato dinner rolls, and more than 3,000 bags of sliced bread.