YouTube star faces jail time after feeding toothpaste-filled Oreo to homeless man

YouTube star Kanghua Ren, who broadcasts under the name ReSet, faces up to two years in prison after serving a homeless man an Oreo filled with toothpaste, multiple international media outlets report. YouTube star Kanghua Ren, who broadcasts under the name ReSet, faces up to two years in prison after serving a homeless man an Oreo filled with toothpaste, multiple international media outlets report. Photo: James A. Guilliam/Getty Images Photo: James A. Guilliam/Getty Images Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close YouTube star faces jail time after feeding toothpaste-filled Oreo to homeless man 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

The prank is common enough. Scrape the frosting off an Oreo cookie, fill it with white toothpaste and serve it to an unsuspecting person. Then you watch them cringe.

YouTube star Kanghua Ren, who broadcasts under the name ReSet, faces up to two years in prison after serving a homeless man one such perverted Oreo, multiple international media outlets report.

The 20-year-old from China filmed himself squirting toothpaste into double-stacked cookies and placing them back into their original blue packaging. He took them onto the streets of Barcelona, where he currently resides, and served them to unsuspecting passersbys, all in an attempt to amuse his 1 million-plus YouTube followers.

In one encounter, Kanghua hands €20 ($25) and a cookie to a man on the street, which authorities identified as 52-year-old Gheorge L., according to the Independent. While the man eats the Oreo, Kanghua starts to question himself: "Maybe I've gone a bit far," he says, per video obtained by the British news outlet.

"But look at the positive side," he continues, "This will help him clean his teeth. I think he hasn't cleaned them since he became poor."

Kanghua earned about €2,000 ($2,475) from advertisements linked to the video, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais.

The YouTuber now faces up to two years in prison and a €30,000 ($37,133) fine if convicted for what Spanish prosecutors are calling a crime against moral integrity, the Telegraph reported.

Controversy followed immediately after Kanghua posted the video, which he later deleted. The YouTuber also attempted to make amends with Gheorge L. by visiting him, camera in-tow, with the intention of spending the night with him, upon which a witness called authorities. Prosecutors said Kangua offered the homeless man €300 ($371) to keep quiet, the Telegraph reported.

Gheorge L. told El Pais he threw up shortly after consuming the Oreo. The man, who escaped dictatorship in Romania and told authorities he had spent time in a mental hospital, said he had never been treated so poorly while living on the street.

Michelle Robertson is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @mrobertsonsf.