Dave Thomas gives diner the finger from beyond the grave

[Karlifornia]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/11212811.htm

Santa Clara County health officials this afternoon confirmed an object found in a bowl of restaurant chili is a human finger.

During a 2:30 p.m. press conference, they said they aren't sure whose finger it is. But they plan to trace the ingredients in the Wendy's chili back to the sources in an effort to track down where the finger came from.

The inch and a half long finger tip was allegedly found in a bowl of chili purchased Tuesday night at a Wendy's restaurant on Monterey Road in San Jose.

Wendy's could not be immediately reached for comment following the press conference.

But earlier the fast-food chain sent out a statement.

``Food safety is of utmost importance to us,'' spokesman Joe Desmond said in a statement. ``We are cooperating fully with the local police and health departments with their investigation. It's important not to jump to conclusions. Here at Wendy's we plan to do right by our customers."

Devina Cordero, 20, was with her boyfriend at the Wendy's fast food restaurant at 1405 Monterey Road Tuesday night when she said the woman, who has not been identified, began gasping and ran up to her saying: ``Don't eat it! Look, there's a human finger in our chili.'' Cordero said the object appeared cooked and seemed to have a long fingernail at the end. All three people soon became sick.

``We went up to the counter and they told us it was a vegetable,'' Cordero said. ``The people from Wendy's were poking it with a spoon.''








Mmmm...kinda makes me want a steaming bowl of wendy's chili.

[McSweeny]

bah

i need to sign up to read that. why can't people just post the article?

[ScottVib]

bah

i need to sign up to read that. why can't people just post the article?
http://www.bugmenot.com

[JeeberD]

Very interesting. The meat in Wendy's chili is hamburger meat that "died", or was on the grill too long and either dried out or burned. The meat is collected, but into a pan with water and then boiled for an hour or two. Once the meat has been thoroughly boiled, the water is drained out and the meat is chopped (using two grill spatulas) into pea-sized pieces.

So I gotta wonder how a hole human finger (a) wasn't noticed in the hamburger patty that it had to have been in and (b) how it managed to survive the meat chopping process intact.

I've seen people put flies in their burgers before to get free food, I wonder how far a person would go to get a juicy lawsuit against a major corporation...

[weinstein7]

You want a finger? I can get you a finger.

[Pyser]

with nail polish.

by 3:00.

[BigJohn&TheLions]

Thank God this has nothing to do with the many severed penis stories of late.

[primelord]

with nail polish.

by 3:00.
John Galt would be proud.

[Tekneek]

Go vegetarian. Fingers are less likely to show up in vegetables.

[moriarty]

So I gotta wonder how a hole human finger (a) wasn't noticed in the hamburger patty that it had to have been in and (b) how it managed to survive the meat chopping process intact.




not to mention (c) how someone managed to lose their entire finger and didn't report it.

[B & B]

Perhaps the digit was one of the only things that wasn't ground up in the meat chopping process. Ever crunch down on a tiny bit of bone that was crushed up?

[Tekneek]

not to mention (c) how someone managed to lose their entire finger and didn't report it.

You assume it was a live person who lost their finger, and that they lost it at the meat plant. Even if they are alive, they may have never known their finger was thrown in there. It may not have been the only body part in there, it was just the only piece left intact and recognizable.

[JeeberD]

Apparently the finger was intact, and those grill spatulas are very hard and pretty damn sharp. I would be surprised if it got through the process unscathed...

[Pyser]

"today i found a fingernail in my food. and yesterday, there was a band-aid!"
"the band aid was keeping the fingernail on, sir"

yes! 2 movies in 1 thread!

[Kodos]

Nice thread title! :D

[TLK]

Police search home of woman who found finger

The mystery of the finger found in a bowl of chili at a San Jose Wendy's last month deepened Thursday with revelations that police have searched the Las Vegas home of the woman who made the revolting find.

A tearful Anna Ayala, 39, angrily denied planting the finger in a telephone interview with The Chronicle. She accused San Jose and Las Vegas officers of bursting into her home with guns drawn on her and her family Wednesday afternoon.

"They put guns to us and handcuffed us and threw us to the ground in front of all my neighbors,'' Ayala said Thursday. She accused police of terrorizing her family, ransacking her home and injuring the arm of her 13- year-old daughter.

"They treated us like trash, like terrorists. It's the worst nightmare,'' she said.

San Jose police said they and local officers executed a search warrant regarding the wayward finger in Las Vegas, but refused to say whose property had been searched and whether anything was found.

Police would not respond to Ayala's claims of rough treatment or even acknowledge searching her home.

"We're not going to release any information that is going to jeopardize our investigation,'' said San Jose police spokeswoman Officer Gina Tepoorten.

She dismissed press rumors that authorities are investigating whether the finger belonged to Ayala's dead aunt.

"It's just rumor -- we have no information that it belongs to an aunt, '' Tepoorten said.

She added that investigators are interviewing anyone who might explain Ayala's grisly discovery March 22, when she reportedly bit into the finger while eating chili with relatives she was visiting in San Jose. Police are questioning Wendy's employees, its food suppliers, diners present that day and "anyone who knows the finder of the finger," Tepoorten said.

"We want to find out who the finger belongs to, from a criminal aspect. We don't know if this was an industrial accident or something more serious like an unreported homicide,'' she added.

The search was just the latest twist in the tale that has caused Wendy's San Jose sales to plummet and turned the chain's name into a punch line for late-night TV comedians. Ayala even recounted her disgust on "Good Morning America."

Santa Clara County investigators lifted a print from the 1 1/2-inch fingertip, but database searches have not revealed a match. DNA testing is under way, as well as chemical analysis to determine if the finger was preserved or cooked.

Meanwhile, Ayala denies even having a dead aunt. She said her family has become the subject of a bizarre witch hunt.

"Right here, I just heard on the TV news that my son cut off my daughter's finger and I put it in the (chili),'' the woman fumed. "It's just ridiculous.

"They're lying, and they're very, very wrong. They're doing all this damage to me, and they're going to pay for it," said Ayala, who has hired a civil attorney to investigate a possible lawsuit against Wendy's.

Ayala refused to say what police questioned her about and what they were searching for. "They went through everything, my clothes, my drawers. My garage looks like a tornado hit it," she said.

Ayala's attorney, Jeffrey Janoff, did not want to discuss the specifics of the case late Thursday. "It's apparently under police investigation, and we await the results of that investigation."

In what a Wendy's official insisted is a coincidence, the restaurant chain announced Thursday that it is offering a $50,000 reward to the first person who provides "verifiable information" that reveals how the finger got in the chili.

"We believe someone knows exactly what happened," Tom Mueller, Wendy's president and chief operating officer, said in a written statement, "and hopefully the reward will encourage this person to come forward."

But Ayala said a San Jose officer told a 23-year-old man who lives in her home "the Wendy's corporation will pay him so much money'' if he provides information about the finger case.

In a telephone interview Thursday night, Wendy's spokesman Bob Bertini said he was unaware that Ayala's home had been searched. "We've had no information on that so far," he said.

Bertini acknowledged that the chain's business had suffered since the finger was found, with sales being "significantly impacted" in the Bay Area.

He said it is premature to discuss what action, if any, Wendy's will take if it turns out that the finger was a hoax.

Wendy's officials have said in earlier statements that they have checked with employees and suppliers and are convinced that the supply chain is clean. Wendy's asks anyone with information to call (800) 821-3348.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/04/08/MNGLFC57TC1.DTL

[Pyser]

were they expecting to find a bag full of fingers? like this is how this woman makes her money, or spends her spare time?

[JeeberD]

I told you so...

[TLK]

Woman Won't Sue Wendy's for Alleged Finger
Woman Who Claims She Found Finger in Wendy's Chili Won't Sue Fast-Food Chain


SAN JOSE, Calif. Apr 13, 2005 — A woman who claimed she scooped up a human finger along with her chili at a Wendy's restaurant has decided not to sue the fast-food chain.

Anna Ayala dropped her claim because it "has caused her great emotional distress and continues to be difficult emotionally," said her attorney, Jeffrey Janoff.

Ayala, 39, claimed she found the 1 1/2-inch long fingertip on March 22 while dining at a Wendy's restaurant in San Jose. She later filed a claim with the franchise owner, Fresno-based JEM Management Corp., which her attorney had said was the first step before filing a lawsuit.


Phone calls to Ayala's house went unanswered Tuesday. Investigators searched her Las Vegas home last week as part of their investigation into how a finger ended up in the chili.

Wendy's spokesman Denny Lynch declined to comment on Ayala's decision to drop the lawsuit but said a reward hot line to receive tips will remain open. Wendy's has offered $50,000 to the first person who can provide verifiable information that identifies the origin of the finger.

"It's very important to us to find out what really happened at the restaurant," Lynch said. "We will continue to fully cooperate with the police investigation."

Wendy's maintains the finger did not enter the food chain in its ingredients. None of the employees at the San Jose store had lost any fingers, and no suppliers of Wendy's ingredients reported any hand or finger injuries, the company said.

The Santa Clara County coroner's office used a partial fingerprint to search for a match in an electronic database but came up empty. DNA testing is still being conducted on the finger.
Link (http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=665523&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312)

Hmmmm.... I wonder why?

[MacroGuru]

Very interesting. The meat in Wendy's chili is hamburger meat that "died", or was on the grill too long and either dried out or burned. The meat is collected, but into a pan with water and then boiled for an hour or two. Once the meat has been thoroughly boiled, the water is drained out and the meat is chopped (using two grill spatulas) into pea-sized pieces.

So I gotta wonder how a hole human finger (a) wasn't noticed in the hamburger patty that it had to have been in and (b) how it managed to survive the meat chopping process intact.

I've seen people put flies in their burgers before to get free food, I wonder how far a person would go to get a juicy lawsuit against a major corporation...

Sounds like i wasn't the only one on here that used to flip burgers for Wendy's.

[Raiders Army]

New news:

Woman who claimed to find finger in chili arrested
Friday, April 22, 2005 Posted: 6:39 AM EDT (1039 GMT)

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- The woman who claimed she found a well-manicured finger in her bowl of Wendy's chili last month was arrested Thursday night in Las Vegas, police said.

Anna Ayala was taken into custody at her home, San Jose police spokesman Enrique Garcia said. He said police would not give any details until a news conference Friday afternoon. Las Vegas police also refused to comment.

The arrest is the latest twist in the bizarre case about how the 11/2-inch fingertip ended up in a bowl of fast-food chili.

Ayala told police she found the finger March 22 while eating at a Wendy's in San Jose. She said she intended to sue but relented, claiming the publicity was too emotionally taxing.

When police and health officials failed to find any missing digits among the workers involved in the restaurant's supply chain, suspicion fell on Ayala, whose story has become a late-night punch line.

Ayala has a litigious history. She has filed claims against several corporations, including a former employer and General Motors, though it is unclear from court records whether she received any money. She said she got $30,000 from El Pollo Loco after her 13-year-old daughter got sick at one of the chain's Las Vegas-area restaurants. El Pollo Loco officials say she did not get a dime.

Earlier Thursday, Ohio-based Wendy's International Inc. announced it had ended its internal investigation, saying it could find no credible link between the finger and the restaurant chain.

All the employees at the San Jose store were found to have all their fingers, and no suppliers reported any hand or finger injuries, the company said.

Sales have dropped at franchises in Northern California, forcing layoffs and reduced hours, the company said. Wendy's also has hired private investigators, set up a hot line for tips and offered a $100,000 reward for anyone who provides information leading to the finger's original owner.

Link (http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/04/22/wendys.finger.ap/index.html)

[Ksyrup]

So, what is the speculation? She dug up someone's finger? Robbed a funeral home? Killed someone and decided to make use of the finger in a get-rich-quick scheme? Killed someone just to get the finger? Anyone, anyone?

[Raiders Army]

I thought the speculation was that she filed claims against several corporations. Dead aunt? I don't know.

[JeeberD]

When the story first broke I assumed that she (or someone she knew) worked in a funeral home or morgue and that's where she got the finger.

I still assume it's something along those lines...

[MacroGuru]

When the story first broke I assumed that she (or someone she knew) worked in a funeral home or morgue and that's where she got the finger.

I still assume it's something along those lines...

Wasn't one of the initial assumptions by the police that it was a finger of a recently deceased Aunt?

[Ksyrup]

I thought they followed the dead Aunt lead (or something similar to that) and publicly said it didn't pan out.

[Ksyrup]

11:27 a.m. May 13, 2005

<!-- BODYTEXT -->SAN JOSE – Police on Friday said the finger a woman claimed she found in a bowl of Wendy's chili came from an acquaintance of her husband who lost it in an industrial accident in December.

"The jig is up," Police Chief Rob Davis said during a news conference. "The puzzle pieces are beginning to fall into place, and the truth is being exposed."

Davis said the tip was called in to a hotline established by the Ohio-based fast food chain, and police found the man – very much alive – in Nevada this week. He said scientific tests confirmed the finger was his.

"This subject was in fact the source of the fingertip allegedly found in the chili," Davis said.

He said the man, who was not identified, was an acquaintance of Jaime Plascencia, the husband of the Las Vegas woman who made the claim, Anna Ayala. He also said detectives had determined the man had given the finger fragment to Plascencia.

Ayala told police she discovered the finger March 22 in a bowl of chili at a Wendy's franchise in San Jose.

Police arrested Ayala and accused of her making up the story to get money from Wendy's.

Wendy's has offered a $100,000 reward and has said it has lost millions in sales since Ayala made the claim. Dozens of employees at the company's Northern California franchises also have been laid off.

"There are victims in this case that have suffered greatly," Davis said. A phone call to Ayala's attorney on Friday was not immediately returned.

[JeeberD]

Good, prosecute the bitch to the fullest extent of the law...

Man, I should have used my extensive Wendy's knowledge and made a wager on this or something.

[Ksyrup]

This gets more bizarre every day:



Mother: Wendy's Finger Used to Settle Debt <!-- END HEADLINE -->
<!-- BEGIN STORY BODY -->39 minutes ago



A man who lost part of his finger in a workplace accident was the source of the fingertip used in an alleged scam against Wendy's restaurants, and gave it away to settle a debt, his mother said.

"My son is the victim in this," Brenda Shouey said in an interview published in Wednesday's San Francisco Chronicle. "I believe he got caught in something, and he didn't understand what was going on."

Anna Ayala, 39, was arrested April 21 at her Las Vegas home on suspicion of attempted grand theft for allegedly costing Wendy's millions of dollars in a plot to shake down the company by claiming she found the finger in a bowl of chili in a restaurant in San Jose.

Ayala was to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.

Shouey, of Worthington, Pa., said her son, Brian Paul Rossiter, 36, of Las Vegas, lost part of his finger in December in an accident at a paving company where he worked with James Plascencia, Ayala's husband. His hand got caught in a mechanical truck lift, she said.

She said he gave it to Plascencia to settle a $50 debt.

San Jose police announced last week the finger was obtained from an associate of Plascencia, but they have refused to identify him because he is cooperating in the investigation. They did not immediately return a message Wednesday seeking comment on the newspaper's account.

Shouey said her son had showed the severed finger to co-workers in a macho display of humor and was desperate for cash when he gave it away "to this character, James."

"My son is a happy-go-lucky guy. He thought it was cute to show" the severed finger, Shouey said. "It's like a man thing."

Shouey declined to give details of how the finger was preserved or whether Rossiter knew why Plascencia allegedly wanted the finger. She said her son told her of his role only this week and is keeping a low profile after undergoing intense police questioning.

Plascencia was arrested earlier this month on unrelated charges of failing to pay child support in a previous relationship.

[Desnudo]

She's right that her son is the victim in this, because its pretty obvious he has sub-normal intelligence.

[sovereignstar]

Ouch.

----
SAN FRANCISCO — SAN JOSE, Calif. — A couple who planted a severed finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili in a scheme to extort money from the fast-food chain were sentenced Wednesday to prison terms of at least nine years.

Anna Ayala, 40, who said she bit into the digit, was sentenced to nine years. Her husband, Jaime Plascencia, 44, who obtained the finger from a co-worker who lost it in a workplace accident, was sentenced to more than 12 years.

"Greed and avarice overtook this couple," said Superior Court Judge Edward Davila, adding that the pair had "lost their moral compass."

The two pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to file a false insurance claim and attempted grand theft with damages exceeding $2.5 million.

In a tearful plea for leniency, Ayala apologized to the courtroom gallery and said the scheme was "a moment of poor judgment."

She said she retched March 22 after biting into the fingertip while dining with her family at a Wendy's in San Jose.

Forensic tests later showed Ayala never chomped down on the finger, but she described the incident to television news crews.

"There's no words to describe what I felt. It's sick, it's disgusting," she said in a clip played before sentencing. "Just knowing there was a human remain in my mouth is tearing me apart inside."

Although authorities suspected a hoax — in part because the finger was not cooked — word of the stomach-turning find quickly spread around the world. The Dublin, Ohio-based fast food chain claimed it lost $2.5 million in sales because of the bad publicity, and dozens of workers at the company's Northern California franchises were laid off.

Denny Lynch, Wendy's senior vice president, asked the judge to send a message that "consumer fraud is a serious crime that demands a severe penalty."

The sentencing followed a 90-minute hearing in which several Wendy's employees testified, including the man who made the chili and the cashier who helped Ayala on the day she made the claim.

"I felt so bad for the fear of what people would think of me," said Hector Pineda, who made the chili and initially came under suspicion. "We are the ones that have suffered."

No Wendy's employee was missing a digit at the San Jose restaurant, and no chili suppliers reported finger injuries at their plants.

In April, Ayala was arrested at her suburban Las Vegas home. Investigators found a pattern of legal claims she brought against businesses in her name or for her children.

A lengthy search for the finger's owner eventually pointed to one of Plascencia's co-workers, who lost it in an accident at the paving company where they worked, police said.

Plascencia bought the tip of Brian Rossiter's right ring finger for $100 and told him what he and Ayala were plotting, according to court documents. Rossiter later told police the couple offered him $250,000 to keep quiet.

During a recorded jailhouse phone call, Ayala bragged about how other inmates were asking for her autograph, according to a transcript of the call.

http://www.startribune.com/484/story/189808.html

[BrianD]

I'm not sure the punishment fits the crime, but it sure sends a message.

[Greyroofoo]

what should the punishment be then? i thought she got off too easily

[Karlifornia]

what should the punishment be then? i thought she got off too easily


Well, in the middle east, they would have chopped off her fingers.

And, get a load of this...in Borneo, they would have killed her and cooked her in some chili.

[B & B]

A month in solitary with nothing to eat but Wendy's chili.

Replace the TP roll with sandpaper and call it even.

[Tigercat]

I think some serious community service, say 5 hours a week for the rest of their lives at a charity of Wendy's choice, would have been a fitting punishment.

Locking away a couple for 9 years does no good for anyone. People will still scam other people. It just gives society two other people we have to support with room and board.

[Draft Dodger]

I think some serious community service, say 5 hours a week for the rest of their lives at a charity of Wendy's choice, would have been a fitting punishment.

Locking away a couple for 9 years does no good for anyone. People will still scam other people. It just gives society two other people we have to support with room and board.

I might be more inclined to agree if they didn't have a pretty well established history of pulling these stunts.