NASTY SURPRISE: Woman claims she was bitten by bedbugs at movie theater
A woman is claiming she got an unexpected scare at a movie theater.
The woman claims what she believes were bed bugs came out of the seat and bit her instantly when she sat down at an AMC theater in Glendale's Westgate.
"The whole thing was covered. The whole arm rest was covered with them," said Crystal Mitchell.
Mitchell said she went to the theater on Tuesday to see a movie, and after she sat down. she felt something on her arm. Mitchell thought it was a piece of hair, but it was far worse.
She said she felt were actually several bugs biting her arm.
"I just see them everywhere," said Mitchell. "All over the arm rest. We had picked it up, and they were all over the top of the arm rest."
After realizing it was bugs, Mitchell jumped from her seat. She turned on her flashlight on her phone, and snapped a number of photos of the chair.
"In my picture, you can see that they're is a lot of eggs with the bugs, and there's all different sizes too," said Mitchell. "That means it's an infestation. They were there for a while."
Mitchell said she left the theater right away and got her money back. She claims the manager told her the exterminator was just there.
Mitchell is hoping more is done to prevent this in the future.
"They cant miss that," said Mitchell. "I'm sure it wasn't the only seat. There's no way I sat on the only seat that was infested."
FOX 10 Phoenix reached out to AMC's corporate office, and officials there tell us an exterminator that specializes in bedbugs has treated the auditorium, and it's been cleared to reopen on Thursday. The officials also said that AMC remains vigilant and aggressive in the monitoring and treatment of the issue.
Mitchell, meanwhile, said corporate did reach out to her. She said she didn't get an apology, but was offered two free movie tickets.