In potentially the most idiotic example of life imitating art, a Michigan man has been arrested for trying to duplicate the bottle deposit scam from “Seinfeld.” The premise is based on the fact that Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont give back five cents per bottle while Michigan doubles that providing consumers with ten cents for each bottle deposited. In the episode, Kramer and Newman are going to round up bottles from New York and transport them to Michigan in order to make a profit. The episode first aired on May 2, 1996.

Fast forward to just over 20 years later, and we find Michigan native Brian Everidge. Everidge could be on the receiving end of a $5,000 fine and up to five years in prison after authorities caught the man with over 10,000 bottles from other states when he was pulled over for speeding in Michigan. Within Michigan’s Beverage Containers Act, there is a section stating that it is unlawful to return bottles that were purchased outside of the State of Michigan. Everidge is a Michigan resident, but told police he had found the bottles in Kentucky so that is where the law comes into play on this one.

A generic internet search claimed that the distance from Kentucky to Michigan would be approximately 557 miles and it would take nearly 9 hours to drive from one to the other. Much like the characters considered in the show, one has to imagine what the possible return could be. There is the consideration of gas when you are driving over 1000 miles round trip. There is also the 18 or so hours you would need to be in the car and that is just the time on the road. It seems to be a pretty pointless endeavor unless you were able to pick-up 10,000 bottles and at least get $1000 dollars coming back to you. It is unlikely this individual had that many bottles or the means to transport that many bottles so it would not seem this would be worth the time and effort for this criminal mastermind.

Another helpful tip might be to pay attention to the speed limit while you are doing something illegal. He may have been able to pull off his master plan had he not been busted for speeding. It is unclear if Everidge will be found guilty in this matter. Since he was caught speeding while travelling with the bottles, his attorney will argue that police had no way of determining what his intent was. Maybe he was on a cross country trip to teach people about recycling or planned to melt them down so he could start a career in hand-blown glass art. At this point, we will just have to wait and see how this turns out.