A TikTok prankster has been arrested for viral content created at the expense of several automotive service shops in Tempe, Arizona, reports People.
Heston Cobb—known as Heston James by his 1.6 million TikTok followers—was behind several incidents where groups of men entered businesses and took over.
One video, posted on July 4, shows Cobb telling the employees of an auto repair shop that he was sent “from corporate” and had received multiple complaints about the shop. Then, a van full of men in jumpsuits enter the shop, and the group starts picking up tools and pretending to work on the cars themselves.
In a separate report from 12News, an employee of a local Big Brand Tire that was targeted described what he saw. The men came in and were opening the doors to customers’ vehicles, going underneath cars, and even using equipment to remove tires from the cars.
“People are running at you with tools, and you don't know what people could do nowadays,” he said.
Additionally, he also noticed that Cobb was wearing Ray-Ban Meta AI sunglasses to record the incident, which Jessica Ells with Tempe Police said Cobb used frequently for recording his other videos.
“That's a much more surreptitious way of doing it, rather than having a cell phone out,” Ells said.
The businesses targeted by Cobb were largely automotive service related, including a Jiffy Lube, Pep Boys, Big Brand Tire & Service, and Hyland Auto Repair, shares People.
Cobb was arrested on July 23, and faces one count of burglary in the third degree, two counts of criminal impersonation, five counts of disorderly conduct, and five counts of criminal trespass.
“Hopefully this will put pressure on Instagram, YouTube, and all of the other platforms to really look at what people are posting,” said Hyland Auto owner David Hyland.
