Couple Plead Guilty in Wendy's Finger Case
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A Nevada couple pleaded guilty to charges that they planted a human finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili in a scheme to extort money from the restaurant chain.
Wendy's International Inc. said the hoax cost the company $2.5 million in lost sales after the story circled the globe last year and became fodder for late-night comedy.
Anna Ayala, 39, and Jaime Placencia, 43, pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to file a false claim and attempted grand theft.
"Thankfully, law enforcement thwarted their successful efforts at theft," said Deputy District Attorney David Boyd.
Ayala's attorney, Rick Ehler, said his client was truly sorry.
"There are a lot of people that work for Wendy's that were harmed, she always felt a lot of remorse about that," he said.
Ayala faces up to 10 years in prison and Placencia faces up to 13 years behind bars. The couple, who are being held in separate county jails, are scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 2.
Wendy's President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Mueller said he hoped the guilty pleas would "send a strong message and serve as a deterrent to others who may contemplate a fraudulent crime against the restaurant industry."
Ayala claimed to have found the fingertip March 22 while eating chili with her family at a Wendy's in San Jose. But no employees at the restaurant were missing fingers, and no suppliers of chili ingredients had reported any finger injuries. There also was no evidence the finger had been cooked.
A search for the finger's owner eventually led to one of Placencia's co-workers, who lost it in an industrial accident in Las Vegas, police said.
Ayala was arrested in April in her suburban Las Vegas home and accused of trying to shake down Wendy's by filing a claim against the restaurant chain.
She later withdrew the claim as scrutiny of her find grew. Investigators found that she had filed numerous legal claims against businesses in her name or for her children.
The franchise where the finger claim was made saw an immediate 60 percent to 70 percent drop in business, said Stephen Jay, marketing director at JEM Management, which owns the restaurant.
Chef2Chef News Desk