TALLAHASSEE (AP) — Wearing the furry mask of the iconic Chuck E. Cheese mascot mouse, an employee of the popular children's birthday destination was arrested for using a stolen credit card at one of the chain's Florida restaurants, police said.
“Chuck E, come with me Chuck E,” a police officer in Tallahassee told the suspect, “stop resisting, you are being detained.”
The arrest occurred Wednesday, according to the probable cause report from police, while photos from bystanders showed an officer removing the man's rodent mask — with its gray fur, exaggerated ears and perpetual smile — and placing it atop a Tallahassee Police Department vehicle.
The investigation began when a woman called police to report that someone was using her child support Visa debit card, which she hadn't seen since a visit Chuck E. Cheese in late June, police records stated. Charges to the card were made at a smoke shop, grocery store and a Whataburger.
The woman tracked down the suspect by going to the grocery store and viewing surveillance footage from the time her card was used, police records state. She recognized the man from the Chuck E. Cheese.
When police officers arrived at the restaurant, one of them entered first to verify that the suspect was there. He was — and he wasn't wearing the mask. The suspect “looked very nervous, he gazed at me with wide eyes and squared shoulders in a tensed demeaner,” a police officer later wrote in the probable cause report.
The officer and another officer soon returned to the Chuck E. Cheese, where the suspect had since donned the rodent mask, police records stated. The officers asked another employee if the suspect was in the mouse suit.
“She shook her head up and down indicating yes,” the officer wrote.
FILE - A Chuck E. Cheese restaurant is shown in San Bruno, Calif., June 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — An international body tasked with governing the Gaza Strip under the next phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire is expected to be announced by the end of the year, an Arab official and a Western diplomat said Friday.
According to the ceasefire agreement, the authority — known as the Board of Peace and chaired by U.S. President Donald Trump — is to oversee Gaza's reconstruction under a 2-year, renewable U.N. mandate.
It will include about a dozen other Middle Eastern and Western leaders, the Arab official and the Western diplomat told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.
Also to be announced is a committee of Palestinian technocrats who will run the day-to-day administration of post-war Gaza, they two said. The Western diplomat, who spoke to the AP over the phone from Cairo, said the announcement about this will likely happen when Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet later this month.
The ceasefire deal also calls for an armed International Stabilization Force to keep security and ensure the disarming of the militant Hamas group, a key demand of Israel.
The announcement would be a significant step forward in implementing Trump's 20-point plan for the territory devastated by Israel's 2-year campaign against Hamas.
The shaky ceasefire, which came into effect on Oct. 10, has been tested by outbursts of violence and accusations by both sides of violations of the truce. The first phase of the ceasefire has neared completion, though Hamas is still to hand over the remains of a last Israel hostage called for under the deal.
The Arab official said that talks are still ongoing over which countries will take part in the international force for Gaza but that he expects deployment will begin in the first quarter of 2026.
A U.S. official gave a similar timeline, saying that “boots on the ground” could be a reality in early 2026. The official spoke to the AP on the same condition of anonymity. Axios first reported the anticipated announcement on Thursday.
The Arab official said that “extensive talks” will start immediately with Hamas and Israel on the details of the second phase, which he expects to be tough.
Those talks are expected the tackle the issue of disarming Hamas, a step the militant group has not yet agreed to. The plan also calls for Israeli forces to withdraw from the roughly half of the Gaza Strip that they still control as the international force deploys.
Funding for a rebuilding plan for the Gaza Strip still has not been determined. Some Palestinians have expressed concern over the apparent lack of a Palestinian voice in the body and the lack of a firm promise in the plan that they will eventually gain statehood.
Netanyahu's government rejects the creation of a Palestinian state, and the U.S.-brokered deal includes only a vague provision that a pathway toward statehood may be possible if certain conditions are met.
Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Doha, Qatar, contributed to this report.
Palestinians watch youths riding their motorcycles and ATV on sand dunes in the Al-Zahra area, in the central Gaza Strip, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians watch youths riding their motorcycles on sand dunes in the Al-Zahra area, in the central Gaza Strip, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli military strike, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
