Prank gone wrong: Father tries to pawn his baby

SARASOTA, Fla. — A massive manhunt ensued after a Sarasota man tried to pawn his baby. Turns out, it was a prank gone wrong and the man is now speaking out, sorry for what happened and with some advice.

On Tuesday evening, a man entered the A&F Pawn Shop and made a strange request to store owner Richard Jordan. "The weirdest, strangest situation we've ever encountered," Jordon told WFLA. "He put it on the counter; he was pretty serious about it. He spun the baby around, and said, 'Can I pawn this?'"

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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 7-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 when he said he pretended to try to pawn his "barely used" son.

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 says his joke obviously fell flat.

Sarasota police are not charging him, and Slocum 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."

NBC/WFLA