Ariana Grande’s Doughnut Abuse Is Now a Police Matter

What started as an unsanitary game turned into a scandal, and now Ariana Grande's doughnut-licking antics are the focus of a police investigation.

The Associated Press reports that police in Lake Elsinore, CA — the location of what's rapidly becoming the most famous doughnut shop in America, Wolfee Donuts — are working in conjunction with Riverside County public health officials to identify how the sweet treats were left unprotected (and thus, so ready for Ari's tongue-grazing in the first place). The singer was visiting the shop with backup dancer and rumored boyfriend Ricky Alvarez when the pair was caught on camera abusing doughnuts that they did not appear to purchase.

A spokeswoman for the Riverside County Department of Environmental Health, Dottie Ellis-Merki, told the AP that the agency was looking into the violation of state food laws, as indicated in the store's CCTV footage.

"During the investigation, the manager did state they normally don't leave donuts out like was shown in the video," Ellis-Merki said to the AP via e-mail. "The employee went to the back to retrieve freshly made donuts by request of the customer and left the trays out while getting other trays." Surely, the errant employee couldn't have known that Ariana would find the unguarded doughnuts more tempting than a hot pie left out on a windowsill.

Cashier Mayra Solis told the AP that Grande was "really rude." Her alleged sour behavior may be attributed to her open disdain for American junk food consumption, which she says sparked her controversial "I hate America" comment on the tape.

"As an advocate for healthy eating, food is very important to me and I sometimes get upset by how freely we as Americans eat and consume things without giving any thought to the consequences that it has on our health and society as a whole," the singer said in a statement yesterday (July 8). It's still unclear what she was doing in a shop that peddles what she calls "poison" in the same statement.

There's no word on whether Grande herself faces charges, but maybe she should talk to her friend Justin Bieber about the costly repercussions that can stem from a seemingly harmless prank.