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After residents of a Texas town were pranked into thinking they would be getting a new Chick-fil-A, local police officers responded with humor.
Earlier this week, the Wharton Police Department in Wharton, Texas, posted pictures on Facebook showing a sign that had been put up at a major intersection.
The sign said: “COMING SOON Chick-fil-A,” with the hashtag #eatmorchikin.
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However, Wharton isn’t actually expecting a Chick-fil-A location anytime soon, according to officials.
In the Facebook post, the Wharton Police Department wrote that it is “actively seeking information on the identity of the infamous ‘Original Prankster.’”
“This heartless individual has strategically placed a sign promising a “Chick-Fil-A coming soon” at the major intersection of Richmond & FM1301,” the police department joked.
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“A witness said this act was ‘Udderly heinous and heartless,’” the post continued. “The chief has allocated additional resources to find the source of this capital offense.”
In the comments of the post, the Wharton Police Department added a picture of a cow – the Chick-fil-A mascot – and wrote: “We are interested in identifying this individual that was seen near the scene earlier.”
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In an email, Sgt. Ariel Soltura, the Public Information Officer for the Wharton Police Department, told Fox News Digital that the police department did not stage the prank themselves, but they “played it up with humor.”
A prankster in Wharton, Texas, put up a sign falsely saying that a Chick-fil-A would be coming soon to the town. (iStock)
Soltura explained that the Wharton Police Department often uses humor on its Facebook page “with our goal to further humanize police officers and increase community buy-in.”
Soltura also said the Chick-fil-A prankster may have fooled officials, as well.
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“It’s not often that an entire Department of trained police professionals gets duped, but this is in fact the case with this ‘udderly heinous and heartless’ prank,” Soltura said.
“To say that we’re sad that the sign isn’t real would be an understatement, as Chick-fil-A is absolutely delicious,” Soltura added.
Chick-fil-A also confirmed to Fox News Digital via email that the fast food chain does not have any current plans to open a restaurant in Wharton.
“We are always evaluating potential new locations in the hopes of serving existing and new customers great food with remarkable service,” the company said in a statement. “While we hope to serve the Wharton community in the future, we do not currently have any locations to confirm.”
