Big Mouth Billy Bass Botches Burglary

(Rick Phillips)

You all remember when Big Mouth Billy Bass, a motion-activated, singing bass, was all the rage? Well, it seems Big Billy is now being praised as quite the hero by authorities in Rochester, Minn., who say the novelty bass thwarted a burglary on Sunday night.

The owner of Hooked on Fishing says he arrived at his business on Monday to find the door open—and Billy Bass on the floor, reports KTTC.

Billy Bass typically hung near the door, and would break into “Take Me to the River” whenever someone entered. But the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office says that in the course of breaking the door to gain entry (and doing $700 worth of damage in the process), the would-be burglar activated the fish and was scared off.

The intruder left without taking anything, and the cash was in “a very visible spot,” Sgt. Tom Claymon tells the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Says Claymon, the bass “took one for the team.”