French Fry – Providence police said Monday that a man accused of using a potato to look like a weapon in two attempted robberies has been arrested.

Officials said 34-year-old Gary Deming was already being held at the ACI on other charges.

Providence police said Deming admitted during an interview to the two attempted robberies. He said he attached the potato to the end of a butane lighter.

Deming was charged with assault to commit robbery.

Workers at a Shell gas station on Branch Avenue said a potato-wielding man tried to hold them up April 21. They scared him away with a bat.

Police said the same man tried to rob a dry cleaning store on Charles Street about 30 minutes later. The owners gave him a counterfeit $20 bill.

45 people got shot Easter weekend in Chicago but they’re probably thanking their lucky stars they didn’t have to deal with the potato burglar. Rhode Islanders can sleep with both eyes closed now. This long nightmare of a man with a potato and a thirst for blood is over. When I first saw the headline, I honestly thought a drunk guy tried to steal a potato from a convenience store, which would be weird but kind of understandable. Robbing a convenience store with a butane lighter and a potato, on the other hand, is something that is not meant to be understood. Probably a good thing he got caught because he was a horrible burglar. If all you get after two robbery attempts is a counterfeit $20 bill then maybe its a blessing in disguise that you got caught. Spend a little time in prison and rethink your robbery strategies (don’t use a potato as a weapon). Trust me when I say this, we haven’t heard the last of the potato wielding mad man known as Gary Deming.

– Ryan