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Florida man who tried to pawn his baby speaks out, says it was a joke

SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) — A massive manhunt ensued after a Sarasota, Fla. man tried to pawn his baby. Turns out, it was a prank gone wrong and the man is now speaking out. He’s very sorry for what happened.

On Tuesday evening, a man entered the A&F Pawn shop in Sarasota and made a strange request to store owner Richard Jordan.

“The weirdest, strangest situation we’ve ever encountered,” said Jordan. “He put it on the counter, he was pretty serious about it. He spun the baby around, and said- ‘can I pawn this?’”

It lasted less than a minute, but after he left Jordan called the police. A few hours later, Brian Slocum realized he was all over the news. He called authorities to explain and soon dozens of officers were outside his home.

“They didn’t find it funny or hilarious at all and there was a lot of resources and time and money that went into it,” said Slocum.

Slocum is a single dad with a seven-month-old son named Caden.

At the urging of his nephew, he started making silly videos on Snapchat. On Tuesday, Slocum recorded his latest stunt.

In the Snapchat video Slocum says: “This is what I got, I know no one under 18 in here but he’s barely used, 7 ½ months old, what do you think he’s worth?”

He didn’t think the manager would take it seriously.

“I was thinking I’d go in there and the guy would be like, oh if it was my son, I’d give you ten grand or something,” said Slocum.

Slocum said his joke obviously fell flat.

“This is not funny! This is not funny, this is serious business,” said Jordan.

“There’s nothing in the world I would trade for my son, he’s my world. Nor any money is worth him,” said Slocum.

Sarasota police are not charging him, and Slocum said he has learned his lesson. He has a warning for others.

“It was a prank, it was skit and a lot of these young people don’t realize that doing things like this has a consequence,” said Slocum.