www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10910050/?GT1=7538

Couple gets 9 years for Wendy’s finger scam
Woman calls her actions 'a moment of poor judgment'  

Updated: 4:17 p.m. ET Jan. 18, 2006
SAN JOSE, Calif. - 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.

A judge in Santa Clara Superior Court 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.

Both received near the maximum possible punishment in their cases.

“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, 39, who had been a Las Vegas resident, had initially claimed that she discovered the finger after buying the bowl of chili last March. She hired a lawyer and complained publicly about the experience, attracting wide attention to the seemingly bizarre incident.

Investigators later determined Plascencia obtained the piece of finger from a co-worker who had lost the top of a finger in an industrial accident at a Las Vegas paving company. The man had turned over the finger fragment to settle a $50 debt.

“I am extremely remorseful,” said Plascencia, 43, who, like his wife, wore prison garb to the hearing at which television cameras were permitted.

Wendy’s International, based in Dublin, Ohio, paid a $100,000 reward for information to help establish the source of the severed finger.

Company officials said it took Wendy’s months to recover from the bad publicity and lost millions of dollars in sales because of the incident. At one point it gave away free ice cream to try to lure customers back into its San Jose area restaurants.

YES!

how long till she's eligible for parole???

She shoul'dve gotten 20 years.

and Wendys should sue her for the lost income.

Who fingered the perps?

Quoted: Wendys should sue her for the lost income.

A big +1.

9 years? People are convicted of much more heinous crimes and get half that or less.

Quoted: 9 years? People are convicted of much more heinous crimes and get half that or less.

Then those people should get more time.  Defaming a company and costing them MILLIONS in lost revenue, while at the same time trying to extort them for even more money is pretty serious in my book.

They're not very smart are they. My scam works every time.

Excuse me mam, but I bought this pair of underwear and there's penis in them...see?

I think she's going to be the butt of many jokes in prison.

"OK, who fingered you as the perp?"

Bunch of scumbag low lifes..they should get 20yrs and have to serve Wendy's food for free for 10 yrs !

Who is paying Wendy's back for the lost revenue ?? Certainly not those two losers !

I cant believe so many would even think there would be a finger ligit in that chilli, to bad they lost so much revenue, I wonder how Wendys determined that ?

It didnt stop me from buying food from them...

Good.

Dave Thomas has a fine chain of restaurants

I luv Wendy's

Quoted: Good. Dave Thomas has a fine chain of restaurants I luv Wendy's

Dave Thomas is dead...God rest his burger making soul.
Some trivia - Bet you didn't know he was Lebanese either.

Quoted: Quoted: Good. Dave Thomas has a fine chain of restaurants I luv Wendy's Dave Thomas is dead...God rest his burger making soul. Some trivia - Bet you didn't know he was Lebanese either.

More trivia:

Bet you didn't know that he originally worked for KFC and was the one that had the idea of dressing the Kentucky Col. up for Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Good. Dave Thomas has a fine chain of restaurants I luv Wendy's Dave Thomas is dead...God rest his burger making soul. Some trivia - Bet you didn't know he was Lebanese either. More trivia: Bet you didn't know that he originally worked for KFC and was the one that had the idea of dressing the Kentucky Col. up for Kentucky Fried Chicken.

He was also the original Spock in Star Trek.

Best part of this whole ordeal was a video taped interview that made Las Vegas news. I'm sitting there at the dinenr table as a very professional looking prosecutor (or detective? ) is talking about how they believe the finger was placed there and so on. He ends with, "what we really want to know is, who's *bleep*n' finger was it!?"

They got what they deserved.  If you read their history, it sounds like they got away with scams in the past & were still looking to make more free money.

Quoted: More trivia: Bet you didn't know that he originally worked for KFC and was the one that had the idea of dressing the Kentucky Col. up for Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Dave Thomas?

Quoted: Quoted: More trivia: Bet you didn't know that he originally worked for KFC and was the one that had the idea of dressing the Kentucky Col. up for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Dave Thomas?

Yep.  No joke.

He "retired" from KFC and got bored and decided to open his own string of burger joints.  He named them after one of his daughters, Wendy.

Wendy went to UF. Go Gators!

Oh yea 9 years... serves them right. I beleieve they had pulled other scams in the past

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: More trivia: Bet you didn't know that he originally worked for KFC and was the one that had the idea of dressing the Kentucky Col. up for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Dave Thomas? Yep.  No joke. He "retired" from KFC and got bored and decided to open his own string of burger joints.  He named them after one of his daughters, Wendy.

How do you guys know this stuff?

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: More trivia: Bet you didn't know that he originally worked for KFC and was the one that had the idea of dressing the Kentucky Col. up for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Dave Thomas? Yep.  No joke. He "retired" from KFC and got bored and decided to open his own string of burger joints.  He named them after one of his daughters, Wendy. How do you guys know this stuff?

See, there's this invention called the Internet...

Quoted: How do you guys know this stuff?

Dave Thomas is a legend here in Ohio.

Just yesterday I was enjoying a nice Hot Cup of Wendy's Chili and I was wondering what happened with that case

Thanks for filling us in !

“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.”

 Yeah, that'll save you!!  

Fucking hilarious

...and then there's this gem:

Investigators later determined Plascencia obtained the piece of finger from a co-worker who had lost the top of a finger in an industrial accident at a Las Vegas paving company. The man had turned over the finger fragment to settle a $50 debt.

About damn time a stupid law suit has a flip happen and the claimants go to jail!!

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Good. Dave Thomas has a fine chain of restaurants I luv Wendy's Dave Thomas is dead...God rest his burger making soul. Some trivia - Bet you didn't know he was Lebanese either. More trivia: Bet you didn't know that he originally worked for KFC and was the one that had the idea of dressing the Kentucky Col. up for Kentucky Fried Chicken. He was also the original Spock in Star Trek.

+ he was Chuck Norris' sensei

GOOD!!!!

http://www.davehayes.org/d/2458-1/genefinger.jpg

That chick looks like Gene Simmons.

Where were all these feelings of remorse when she thought she was going to score thru a scam lawsuit???

That's a wagonload of shit she's pushing there and I ain't buyin'!!

I like the fact that the husband got time for not paying child support - serves him right.

Quoted: Quoted: How do you guys know this stuff? See, there's this invention called the Internet...

Wiseass.

Quoted: 9 years? People are convicted of much more heinous crimes and get half that or less.

Yeah, like the guy that got 60 days for raping a litle girl for 4 years.

I would have just tattooed IDIOT on their foreheads and sterolized these morons, about 5 min. after their claim.