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An Arizona social media influencer who racked up millions of views by posing as an employee and staging disruptive takeover attempts of local businesses has pleaded guilty to criminal impersonation.
Heston James Cobb, who posts online as “Heston James,” entered the plea Friday. Tempe police said Cobb led a group of men into businesses while dressed as employees, went into employee-only areas and refused to leave when asked.
In one video, Cobb wore a Chipotle Mexican Grill shirt and told employees he was going to “clean house” before a group of men in dark shirts poured into the restaurant and ignored requests to leave.
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One man posing as an employee even cleaned a tabletop with a mop.
Cobb, who was 21 when he was arrested in July 2025, was tied to pranks at Chipotle, Pep Boys, Hyland Auto Repair, Big Brand Tire & Service and Jiffy Lube, police said.
The incidents took place between March and July 2025, with Cobb acting as the “leader” and telling the others to begin “working” after they entered the businesses, according to police.
Videos of the pranks were posted to Cobb’s social media accounts, where they drew millions of views and potentially made large amounts of money, police said.
Detectives began linking the cases after several of the pranks happened in Tempe in early July. Police eventually identified Cobb as the man behind the Heston James social media accounts.
Cobb was arrested at his home on July 23, 2025. He was booked on one count of third-degree burglary, two counts of criminal impersonation, five counts of disorderly conduct and five counts of criminal trespass.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Cobb’s attorney, Vicki Lopez, for comment through the Rosenstein Law Group but did not immediately hear back.
Steve Chucri, president of the Arizona Restaurant Association, told The Associated Press he hopes Cobb’s punishment is “severe” enough to discourage others from trying similar stunts.
“There’s no place for it,” Chucri said. “That’s the last thing we need to put up with in the restaurant industry. The amount of money it takes to operate today is expensive.”
Chucri said the association does not offer restaurants formal training or advice on how to deal with social media pranksters, and he hopes it never has to.
“We’re a society of civility,” Chucri said. “We shouldn’t have to.”
Matthew Pittman, a social media professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, told the outlet he hopes Cobb’s arrest reminds influencers that the law still applies when they are creating content.
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“So doing something that is illegal in real life would also be illegal on social, even if you are doing it for content,” Pittman said. “This is a clear case of going beyond what the law allows.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
