Residents of Wharton, Texas, are crestfallen after being misled into believing that their town would soon get a Chick-fil-A.
A sign placed at one of Wharton’s busy intersections broadcasted the imminent arrival of the chicken staple.
The sign read: “COMING SOON Chick-fil-A,” with the hashtag “#eatmorchikin” underneath.
However, Chick-fil-A was not coming soon. According to officials, Chick-fil-A does not have plans to open a restaurant in Wharton.
The Wharton Police Department posted a picture of the cruel sign on its page with the caption:
“Wharton PD is actively seeking information on the identity of the infamous ‘Original Prankster.’ This heartless individual has strategically placed a sign promising a ‘Chick-Fil-A coming soon’ at the major intersection of Richmond & FM1301. A witness said this act was ‘Udderly heinous and heartless.’ The chief has allocated additional resources to find the source of this capital offense.”
The police department also included a picture of a cow, Chick-fil-A’s trouble-making mascot, and wrote, “We are interested in identifying this individual that was seen near the scene earlier.”
In an email to Fox News Digital, Sgt. Ariel Soltura, Wharton PD’s public information officer, said that the department had not planted the sign but decided to have fun with the prank.
Soltura stated that the police department often uses humor on its Facebook page to humanize officers and engage the community.
“It’s not often that an entire Department of trained police professionals gets duped, but this is in fact the case with this ‘udderly heinous and heartless’ prank,” Soltura said. “To say that we’re sad that the sign isn’t real would be an understatement, as Chick-fil-A is absolutely delicious.”
An email to Fox Digital Media from Chick-fil-A’s corporate office said that while it was not currently planning on setting up shop in Wharton, it is always in the process of finding new locations to expand its customer base. In what is perhaps a silver lining for the town’s residents, Chick-fil-A did not deny that it may serve them sometime in the future.
