01-19-2006, 12:05 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Registered User
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Couple get 9 years prison for Wendy's finger scam
Quote:
Couple get 9 years prison for Wendy's finger scam
SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) - A California court sentenced a couple to nine years in prison on Wednesday for planting a severed human finger in a bowl of chili to swindle a Wendy's fast food restaurant.
Judge Edward Davila sentenced Anna Ayala and her husband, Jaime Plascencia, to nine years imprisonment for their role in the Wendy's scam, which caused a sharp fall in sales at the third-largest U.S. burger chain.
The husband was given another three years and four months for not paying support for the five children he has with another woman in an unrelated case, giving him a total sentence of 12 years, four months behind bars.
"Greed and avarice overtook this couple and they lost their moral compass," Judge Davila said.
Davila also ordered the couple to pay almost $22 million in restitution but Wendy's officials indicted to the court they would only seek to collect approximately $170,000, representing the wages lost by employees at the San Jose restaurant where working hours were cut back after a downturn in business.
"We are very satisfied with the decision made by the judge," Wendy's spokesman Denny Lynch said.
Investigators determined Plascencia obtained the piece of finger from a co-worker who had lost the top of a digit in an industrial accident at a Las Vegas paving company. The man had turned over the finger fragment to settle a $50 debt.
Wendy's International, based in Dublin, Ohio, paid a $100,000 reward for information to help establish the source of the severed finger.
SOBBING APOLOGY
"I am truly sorry. I owe Wendy's and its employees an apology," a sobbing Ayala told the court. "Wendy's had always been my family's favorite fast food restaurant."
She called her actions "a moment of poor judgment," and told her family: "For all the shame I brought upon them I am sorry, I am so sorry."
Ayala, 40, who had been a Las Vegas resident, claimed that she discovered the finger after buying the bowl of chili last March. She complained about the experience on national television and hired a lawyer, attracting wide attention to the bizarre incident.
Ayala's attorney Rick Ehler accused prosecutor David Boyd of using the media attention to get a tough sentence. "It seems as though the prosecution tried to exert some judicial pressure through the media," Ehler said.
"I am extremely remorseful," said Plascencia, 43, who, like his wife, wore prison clothes to the hearing at which television cameras were permitted.
Plascencia's attorney Charles Kramer said the probation department's recommendation of 11 years for his client was excessive.
"I was quite surprised at the harshness of the probation department's recommendation," Kramer said. "Judge Davila going over and above that shocks me even more."
Company officials said the company lost millions of dollars as a result of the scam, and that the bad publicity still lingers. "There is still some sales impact, particularly on the West Coast," spokesman Bob Bertini said.
At one point the chain gave away free ice cream to try to lure customers back into its San Jose area restaurants.
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Boohoo. She's sorry she got caught. |
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