Florida police have arrested a Chuck E Cheese mascot for credit card fraud, telling him “Chuck E, come with me” and leading him away in handcuffs while still in his gigantic mouse head costume as horrified children looked on.

Police confirmed to the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper that they had arrested Jermell Jones, an employee of the chain of family entertainment centers, on three felonies.

They said that on 3 July a woman reported about $100 of fraudulent charges on her card after a recent visit to Chuck E Cheese, and claimed to have traced the activity to a specific employee.

“They walked over with the intention of just walking outside to put handcuffs on him outside of public view,” police spokesperson Alicia Hill told the Democrat, adding that when the employee resisted the officers decided to handcuff him.

Police reports said that one of the officers arresting the employee identified him by his mascot’s name, saying: “Chuck E, come with me, Chuck E.”

“It is unfortunate that the person who is subject of this investigation and who we had probable cause on happened to be in a suit and in costume,” Hill said.

The stolen credit card was allegedly found in Jones’s possession, she added, and the Democrat reported he was charged with theft of credit card, criminal use of personal identification information and fraudulent use of a credit card more than two times within six months.

Started by the founder of Atari, the Chuck E Cheese chain has several hundred branches, mostly across the US and Canada, and is popular with children’s birthday parties for its video games, active play areas and pizza.

Chuck E Cheese parent company CEC Entertainment said in a statement to the Tallahassee Democrat that it was aware of the incident and had “taken the appropriate action concerning the subject employee”.