Finger found in Chilli

[John Brown]

I heard on the news last night that a women found a finger of a human in her bowl of chilli at Wendy's resturant.

If I can find a link or something somewhere I will post it.

[Davagator]

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A diner at a Wendy's fast food restaurant in San Jose, California, found a human finger in a bowl of chili prepared by the chain, local officials said on Wednesday.

"This individual apparently did take a spoonful, did have a finger in their mouth and then, you know, spit it out and recognized it," said Ben Gale, director of the department of environmental health for Santa Clara County. "Then they had some kind of emotional reaction and vomited."

Local officials launched an investigation after the incident on Tuesday night and the medical examiner determined on Wednesday that the object was a human finger.

Officials are trying to determine if the finger came in the raw materials Wendy's used to prepare the chili, Gale said.

Wendy's International Inc. corporate office did not immediately return a call for comment. Wendy's is the third-largest hamburger chain.

[camillusk]

:shock: Eeeeewwww! :vom:

[MrBlues]

Hope the poor bastard only lost one finger! :smt005

[Trav-ass]

That's fricken gross.

[crshoveride1]

you know... I like Wendy's too and I don't think I'll ever go there again :(

[MrBlues]

Every time I see ckicken fingers on the menu now I"ll think about that! :vom:

[Davagator]

A woman who officials say bit down on part of a finger in a bowl of chili at a Wendy's restaurant in California has taken the first step toward pursuing a lawsuit.

She has filed a claim with the franchise owner.
Health authorities in California said the woman scooped up the 1½ inch-long human finger in a mouthful of chili at a Wendy's in San Jose, Calif., last week. She immediately spit out the finger and warned others to stop eating. Then she got sick.The county medical examiner said the human finger was cooked but not decomposed.

She's said that knowing a human body part was in her mouth was "disgusting." Her attorney said he'll try to seek a resolution without having to go to court. A Wendy's spokesman isn't commenting on the claim. He said Wendy's maintains the finger did not enter the food chain in its ingredients.
************************************************** ****
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Sales have dropped sharply at Wendy's restaurants in the area of northern California where a woman claimed she found part of a finger in a bowl of chili."It is an isolated incident," a company spokesman said. "However, it is dramatically affecting sales in that market."

Gee! Ya think!!

[Drowsy]

Thats sooo messed up. It makes me sick just thinking about it.

[camillusk]

Really! I can almost imagine what that would feel like - eating chili like normal and all of a sudden :vom:

My question is, what the hell kinda spoon was she using that she wouldn't notice a huge chunk on it before she stuck it in her mouth? Was the chili that chunky to begin with that she wouldn't be curious when she scooped it out of her bowl?

[Davagator]

Hmmm, good point! :-k I usually look at my fork or spoon before eating whats on it. And Wendy's chili is not that chunky.



:rolllaugh Chunky! "Now flavored with severed human fingers"

[MrBlues]

:rolllaugh The county medical examiner said the human finger was cooked but not decomposed. :rolllaugh

[AllCutieWants]

:vom: So gross! My homemade chili is fingerless! :smt005

[Nosenoddles]

kind of hard to beleive that not even the employees that made and served the chili didn't notice it either. I think it was a set up by the chick, but on the other hand, were does one get a human finger to stick in your food.

[Davagator]

SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- 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.

:-k hmmm, sounds fishy.

[camillusk]

Agreed! People will go unbelievable lengths to get $$

[Davagator]

Ayala, 39, claimed she found the 1½-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.

Court records show Ayala has a history of making legal claims against corporations, including a former employer, General Motors and a fast-food restaurant. She acknowledged receiving a settlement for medical costs a year ago after claiming that her daughter was sickened after eating at a Las Vegas restaurant.

:-k

[camillusk]

Uh-huh. That figures!

[crshoveride1]

now I'm wondering if she didn't just happen to "plant" the finger in the chili. She obviously knows how to make money when she needs it.

[Nosenoddles]

''There's too much in this country today with people trying to get things by conning them out of it. Wendy's has been good for years,'' said longtime customer 81-year-old Ralph Woodman. ''How the hell would you get a finger into the pot without seeing it in there when you're stirring it? It had to be some sort of screwball ruse.''

[Davagator]

AMEN

[Davagator]

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Wendy's top executive said a woman's claim that she found a finger in a bowl of chili has hurt their bottom line.

The company's president and chief executive said, "Our brand reputation has been affected nationally." Tom Mueller said sales have dropped at franchises in Northern California, forcing layoffs and reduced hours.

I hope they prove she is a fraud and they turn around and sue her ass!!

[AllCutieWants]

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.

[Drowsy]

She's screwed! I hope Wendy's sues her ass!

[Davagator]

The woman who claimed she found a finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili mader her first appearance in a San Jose courtroom Monday afternoon.Anna Ayala, 39, (shown left during an earlier court appearance) claimed she bit down on the finger on March 22 at a San Jose Wendy's restaurant, but her story came under almost immediate suspicion.



Police said they now believe Ayala planted the finger in her food and she's been charged with attempted grand larceny for the millions of dollars the fast food chain lost as a result of negative publicity.

She may face a 7 year prison term.

[lisadomenica]

Last I heard, they were trying to escavate (SP?) Ayala's dead grandmother to see if she has all her fingers!

Ewww.....

[Davagator]

Police say the finger that a woman found in a bowl of chili came from an associate of her husband's who lost the digit in an industrial accident."

The jig is up. The puzzle pieces are beginning to fall into place," Police Chief Rob Davis said.

He said authorities "positively confirmed that this subject was in fact the source of the fingertip."

The man is from Nevada and lost a part of his finger in an accident last December, Davis said. His identity was traced through a lead made to a Wendy's hot line, he said.

Davis said authorities "positively confirmed that this subject was in fact the source of the fingertip."

[Nosenoddles]

Thats just gross. So she's had some dudes finger laying around, probably in her freezer for a few months....she plants it herself and then take a bite out of it. Sick twisted person!!! :vom:

[camillusk]

Ugh! I just puked in my mouth when I read that! :vom:

[Davagator]

EWWW :vom:
Ugh! I just puked in my mouth when I read that! :vom:

[AllCutieWants]

SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- 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 at least nine years in prison.

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.
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."

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

Earlier, she watched news footage of herself describing how she sat down March 22 with her family at the Wendy's in San Jose, put crackers in her chili and started eating until she chewed on something "kind of hard, crunchy." She said she spit it out and realized it was a human finger.

"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."

Other interviews showed an increasingly agitated Ayala denying to reporters she put the finger in the chili. "Where would I get a damn finger?" she asked on camera.

Forensic tests later showed Ayala never chomped down on the finger.

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."

Cashier Jose Pacheco said he bore the brunt of Ayala's tirade after complained about the chili. "She asked me who I killed to get the finger," Pacheco said.

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

The couple must pay about $170,000 in restitution for workers' lost wages. A judge also ordered them to pay nearly $21.8 million to Wendy's International and JEM Management, which owns the restaurant. Both corporations agreed not to collect from the couple, provided they never benefit from the ruse.

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.

[camillusk]

Asking for her autograph? :doh

[AllCutieWants]

Sick fucking people!

[crshoveride1]

well I'd say they got wha they deserved. The only think left to do is deport those bastards back under the rock in the country they came from. Damn imagrants trying to steal our US money! Same with the lotto. I think only born and raised US citizens should be allowed those winnings.

[AllCutieWants]

Agreed! Give US a chance to win damn it!

[Davagator]

I say we should ship all our bad people to one of our nuclear contaminated islands out in the middle of the ocean. l:|

[AllCutieWants]

:smt023 Agreed!

[camillusk]

Sounds good to me! :partyman: