Strip searches lead to Wendy's suspensionsBy Stephanie Vosk, Globe Correspondent, 2/26/2004
Managers of Wendy's restaurants in Abington, Wareham, Whitman, and West Bridgewater have been suspended with pay, after they strip-searched employees, the restaurants' corporate office announced yesterday.
Bob Bertini, a spokesperson for Wendy's International Inc., said four Wendy's restaurants fell prey to a scam on Friday, when a caller who identified himself as a police officer informed managers that an employee may have stolen money from the restaurants.
The caller gave the managers instructions to perform a strip search of a single employee at each location, and the managers complied, Bertini said.
Later, however, each manager became suspicious, and reported the call and the incident to local police.
"This is just a very unfortunate situation, and we feel very badly about it," said Bertini. "The managers who were duped are law-abiding citizens. They thought they were responding to direct orders by the police."
None of the searched employees, who are also being paid, has returned to work, Bertini said. All have been offered counseling, he added.
All of the incidents occurred between 7 and 11:30 p.m. Friday, Bertini said.
He said he believes the caller gave the managers enough information to identify one employee to be searched.
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