Gumby attempted robbery suspect surrenders to San Diego police

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Gumby's bandit days appear to be over.

A man named Jacob Kiss, 19, told police in San Diego on Tuesday that he is the person who dressed as the green animated character Gumby, entered a California 7-Eleven store this month and had an encounter with the store clerk that investigators later described as an attempted robbery, police said.

The suspect in the September 5 incident had claimed to be armed and demanded money, but left the store after the clerk dismissed him as a jokester, they said.

Surveillance video from the store was widely broadcast in news reports after the encounter between the Gumby-clad man and the store clerk, which made headlines as police searched for the suspect and his getaway driver.

Kiss brought the full-body Gumby costume with him to police headquarters when he turned himself in, and was accompanied by an alleged cohort named Jason Giramma, 19, who apparently drove away from the store with Kiss that day, San Diego police spokesman Detective Gary Hassen said.

Investigators questioned Kiss and Giramma, took down their statements and confiscated the slanty-headed Gumby costume before releasing the pair, Hassen said.

Police plan to give the evidence to the local District Attorney's Office for possible prosecution.

Gumby, a green humanoid figure who looks like an elastic stick of gum with limbs, was created in the 1950s by the late Art Clokey and his wife, Ruth.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Cynthia Johnston)