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Man eats 1.8 pounds of pickles in 5 mins

NEW YORK, May 20 (UPI) -- The winner of a pickle-eating contest at New York's famous Carnegie Deli said it was his fourth time in the contest and his first victory.

Michael Hoffman of Farmingdale, N.Y., said he has entered the deli's pickle-eating contest three times in the past but Wednesday marked his first victory when he downed 1.8 pounds of pickles in five minutes, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

"I feel great," Hoffman said after the contest. "I'll probably pick up some pickles before I leave."

Second place went to Francis Arpaia of New York, who downed 1.35 pounds of pickles during the time limit and third-place finisher Brenda Matthis of Boston finished 1.17 pounds of pickles before time ran out.

"The pickle contest is a fun event to make people aware of pickles and what pickles mean to a deli," Carnegie Deli owner Sandy Levine said. "It's a fun-loving food that makes people happy."

YouTube proposal video goes viral

MCDONOUGH, Ga., May 20 (UPI) -- A Georgia man said he was shocked when a YouTube video of his movie theater marriage proposal reached nearly 3 million views in only three days.

Matt Still, 30, said he taped his May 7 proposal to Ginny Joiner, 26, and posted it online for friends and family who could not attend the event and he was surprised to find it had quickly become a viral hit, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thursday.

"We were extremely shocked by it," Still said of the video's popularity.

The video, titled "Greatest Marriage Proposal Ever," depicts an unwitting Joiner entering a McDonough movie theater with her brother and viewing a short film created by Still in the place of previews. The video ends with Still emerging and presenting Joiner with a ring.

"He got me good," Joiner said of the surprise proposal.

The couple said the video has gotten them interviews from as far away as Canada, Detroit and Philadelphia. They said they filmed an interview via the Internet for NBC's "Today" show Web site.

Police may have destroyed $8,000

UPPER DARBY, Pa., May 20 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania police official said his department may have accidentally burned the $8,000 missing from its evidence room.

Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said the money, which was seized in 2009 from a home where a domestic dispute was reported and officers found the cash along with crack cocaine and marijuana, had been kept in a lock box accessible to only a few people within the department, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Thursday.

However, Chitwood said a court ruled the search illegal and ordered the money returned, leading officers to discover the cash was not in the box.

"Everything was in the evidence box but the $8,000," he said. "We have searched the entire evidence room twice."

Chitwood said an evidence technician told investigators he recalled being called away for an emergency while counting the money and the envelope of cash may not have ended up in the right lock box. Chitwood said the envelope may have been burned, as the department frequently incinerates unnecessary evidence.

The city wrote an $8,000 check to replace the cash, Chitwood said.

Stolen mini horse found on Craigslist

COOPER CITY, Fla., May 20 (UPI) -- Authorities in Florida said they arrested a suspected miniature horse thief after the owner of the animal spotted a posting for its sale on a Craigslist site.

The Broward Sherriff's Office said Munchkin the 9-year-old miniature horse went missing Monday afternoon from the Cooper City home of Tammy Worth and the owner found a posting for a mini horse for sale later in the evening on Craigslist, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Thursday.

"It's a horse. I mean, where else would you sell a horse?" Worth said. "If it was a TV or a radio, or even a puppy, you would sell it to one of your buddies. But this is a horse."

The sheriff's office said Tyler Carlin, 19, was arrested and charged with grand theft of a commercial farm animal and dealing in stolen property. He was released on bond Tuesday.

Deputies said the 2-foot-tall horse was back home before midnight.