Cake-Kicker Gets Probation for Slapping Ice Cream Shop Worker

ROYAL OAK, MI — Oakland County’s infamous birthday cake-kicker, who got a stern lecture last month from an Oakland County judge for her “temper tantrum” over the decorating job on her son’s birthday cake, closed an embarrassing chapter Monday when she was sentenced to probation for assaulting an ice cream shop worker because the store was out of Mackinaw Island Fudge ice cream.

Tricia Kortes gained notoriety locally and across the country in June when she was accused of drop-kicking the Batman v. Superman-themed birthday cake across the bakery counter at a Bloomfield Township Kroger store.

A clerk at Ray’s Ice Cream in Royal Oak came forward after a flurry of media reports and told police she recognized Kortes as the woman who reached across the counter and slapped her when she said the shop didn’t have Michigan’s favorite ice cream flavor.

Kortes turned herself into Royal Oak police in August and was arraigned on assault and battery charges in connection with the July 9, 2015, incident. On Monday, she was given two years’ probation and fined more than $800 and fees in Royal Oak 44th District Court. The sentence of 300 hours of community service handed down for the cake kicking was also continued.

Judge Derek Meinecke also ordered Kortes to stay away from Ray’s Ice Cream, 4233 Coolidge Highway, and Wainer, and also required her to keep a daily journal until her first probation review, which is on Jan. 25.

See Also

• ‘Infuriated’ Customer ‘Drop Kicks’ Son’s Birthday Cake: Police
• Accused Cake-Kicker Now Alleged Ice Cream-Slapper
• Cake Kicker Gets Community Service for ‘Temper Tantrum’

Before the Bloomfield Township incident, Kortes had been ordered by a Troy judge to undergo anger management classes after she pleaded no-contest to a disorderly conduct charge stemming from a fight with a coworker. Kortes shoved and hit one of her coworkers on the head with a cellphone, according to court documents.

During her sentencing Monday, Kortes said she has been unfairly portrayed by the media and that she is a changed person, according to media reports.

“I have completed the anger management class and I’ve been continuing to complete therapy,” Kortes said.

Meinecke was incredulous and offered little sympathy. He said Cortes is responsible for her damaged reputation.

“Three issues within the span of a year,” the judge noted. “Most people walking on this planet are not going to have one issue in a year and you have three in one year.”

Linda Wainer, the ice cream shop worker Kortes slapped, told WDIV-TV she wants Kortes “to realize that she can’t go around hurting people.”

“I think she thinks she is entitled,” Wainer said.

During her sentencing on the Bloomfield Township incident, 48th District Court Judge Kimberly Small said she was concerned that “something as trivial as a design on a cake literally threw you into a tizzy.

“Here you are, in the middle of a public place, drop-kicking a cake and dropping the f-bomb,” the judge said. “If I was shopping with a child, I would be horrified. And, quite frankly, I think the child would be horrified, too.”

Later, Small said: “My God, you have it well. You live a beautiful life,. And you’re upset over a cake?”

Photo via Royal Oak police