A mayor in New Jersey realized she was the target of a prank when she received a bag of penis-shaped candy in the mail.
Hamilton Township Mayor Kelly Yaede was the recipient of a prank carried out with the help of veteran organization, Dysfunctional Veterans. Yaede’s staff discovered a package addressed to the mayor containing penis-shaped candy and alerted police of harassment, New Jersey.com reported Thursday.
The package was discovered last week, though the mayor was not present at the time. When she heard of the incident, she laughed about it.
“My staff intercepted it and then asked the Hamilton Township police department to find out the origin of the package,” Yaede said. “When I was alerted to it I didn’t give it a second thought, and laughed it off.”
Were they hoping to get a rise out of her? https://t.co/T38xnqkvne
— New Jersey 101.5 (@nj1015) October 25, 2018
However, it appears the prank was not meant with malicious intent, but rather to raise awareness for a good cause.
Dysfunctional Veterans (DV) is an organization devoted to fostering a veteran community, and also helping veterans through a farm environment at The DV Farm, which offers a support structure to veterans as they overcome challenges such as homelessness and addiction.
Founded by former homeless veteran Mike Rivers, the New Hampshire-based organization describes themselves as “a brotherhood and sisterhood of veterans rooted in sarcasms and the things that remind us we are not alone,” according to their Facebook page.
DV hosts numerous campaigns to help veterans, showing their steadfast support to the veteran community and related causes. One of their current campaigns is garnering help from the community to supplying 1,000 homeless veterans with winter survival bags.
The website for DV offers a store that sells a variety of products from hats to t-shirts, and a prank section of products that reflect the organization’s self-proclaimed “warped humor.”
The penis-shaped candy, titled “Eat a bag of d**ks” is available for anonymous gifting, allowing purchasers to send it to any recipient without sharing their information. The package includes a card that reads, “A Dysfunctional Veteran somewhere in the universe would like you to …. Eat a bag of d**ks,” bringing attention back to the organization’s efforts.
A disclaimer in the product description reminds customers that the product is not intended for malicious purposes. “Dysfunctional Veterans does not condone sending this item to harass any person,” the disclaimer reads.
When the DV was contacted by police, they posted about it on Facebook with a sarcastic twist.
“MAJOR CRIMES: The Honorable Mayor of Hamilton NJ received a BAG OF DICKS… She has enlisted the help of her police department to investigate who sent this! Not just any cop either – she has a MAJOR CRIMES detective on it! As usual, we don’t turn over the names of our customers unless we are compelled to by a court. The detective was cool by the way… go easy on him,” the post said.
DV appeared to laugh off the incident just as the mayor did, showing that they aren’t a crowd who takes life too seriously.
Mayor Yaede said she halted the investigation, and confirmed there is no longer an active investigation on the incident.
“It was a prank and that’s all I took it as,” Yaede said.
