Man threatened with jail time over overdue DVD rental

A man who rented a movie four years ago has been told he could be arrested over the overdue DVD rental.

In a time of internet streaming and rampant movie piracy online, this is a pretty stunning story.

(It comes to you via Tyler Butler at KTUL in Tulsa, US.)

Butler’s yarn explains how Oklahoma’s Lonnie Perry was “facing jail time” after renting Ted from a shop called Super Video back in 2014.

Perry explained how he rented the movie, but found himself homeless a few days after.

He packed all his stuff up and moved on, forgetting that the DVD was in there.

Now, a long time after the five-day rental was due to be returned, Perry’s in trouble with the law.

He was contacted by the Rogers County District Attorney's Office about the dilemma, with an officer informing him he had to pay up.

It was a pretty intense notice.

“Remember, ignoring this letter will cause you to go to jail,” Perry was told.

Jail.

For an overdue DVD.

Can you imagine?

Perry was told he had to pay more than $293 for the rental, which is a bit steep, considering it only cost a little more than $6 to rent the movie at the time.

About $25 of that sum was for the cost of the disc, while $33 covered the cost of lost profits.

The bulk of the money will go to the DA office, because apparently there’s a “state statute that deals with unreturned movies”.