Man Pleads To AK-47 Threat Over Pizza Pie

SEPTEMBER 12--A Tennessee man has pleaded guilty to pointing an AK-47 rifle at Little Caesars employees because his $6 pepperoni pizza was taking too long to cook, records show.

In a plea deal, Charles Doty, 64, agreed last month to cop to his dangerous gunplay at a restaurant in Knoxville. Doty, who was charged with multiple felony counts, is scheduled to be sentenced on September 29 after pleading guilty to four aggravated assault counts.

As a result of Doty’s “blind plea,” the “length and manner of service of the sentence” will be solely determined by a Criminal Court judge, according to a prosecution spokesperson.

Police say Doty became incensed after being told that his pizza would take ten minutes to prepare. Doty demanded a free order of Little Caesars “Crazy Bread” before briefly leaving the restaurant, which is about five miles from his residence.

When Doty (pictured above) returned to Little Caesars, he was carrying an AK-47, which he first pointed at a female worker--who was on her first day on the job--while demanding his order. When another employee sought to leave the restaurant, cops report, Doty asked “where in the hell he thought he was going.”

The staffer then went to a back room and dialed 911.

In a bid to get Doty to leave Little Caesars, a female customer who had received her order handed him her own pepperoni pie. Doty then fled the restaurant (seen below) before Knoxville Police Department officers arrived.

Doty was subsequently arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault.

In a TV interview following the November 2021 bust, the worker who had the AK-47 pointed at her said she was shocked at Doty’s overreaction to a minor wait for a pizza. Referring to a Little Caesars slogan, she noted, “We’re not always Hot-N-Ready.”