Posted on 04/22/2005 3:19:51 AM PDT by nuconvert
Wendy's Finger Finder Arrested
Friday, April 22, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO — The woman who claimed she found a well-manicured finger in her bowl of Wendy's (search) chili last month was arrested at her home Thursday night, police said.
Police in San Jose, Calif. — the site of the Wendy's in question — announced the arrest of Anna Ayala in Las Vegas (search). Police spokesman Enrique Garcia (search) said authorities would not give any details until a news conference Friday.
Ayala's 18-year-old son, Guadalupe Reyes (search), said he had gone to the store around 9 p.m. when he got a phone call from a friend who was back at the house.
"We rushed back and she was already gone," Reyes said.
Reyes said he had no other details and was waiting to hear from his mother.
The arrest is the latest twist in the bizarre case about how the 11/2-inch finger tip ended up in a bowl of fast-food chili.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The pathetic thing is this woman has cost Wendy's hundreds of Millions of dollars in business. The lesson for everyone in the industry is to settle quietly, pay them off and keep the publicity to a minimum.
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On the contrary, I'm glad Wendy's apparently took a more aggressive stance with this woman. She has a history of extorting or attempting to extort money from corporations via the legal system. In fact, I'm hoping now that Wendy's sues her. Probably won't get a dime, but a judgment on her record, plus some serious jail time may cause her enough damage that she will think twice about trying a stunt like this again.
And by the way, stunts like this cost companies large sums of money in revenue...companies don't just absorb the cost -- they pass it on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. Or for some, the money lost is so devastating, the companies are forced to close -- people lose their jobs -- towns and regions which depend on these companies for revenue from taxes have lost a significant portion of their revenue. This translates into higher taxes for those who remain. People don't realize the adverse ripple effect something like this could cause.
She should have used a roach. Human fingers lead to all kinds of paperwork and investigations.
leni
I just realized that my Freeper name is Dudoight. I think this means 'of the finger' in French.
Madame du Doight cancelled her plans to attend a 'California Chili Cook off' in as she is now in Jail. Her Chili recipie was felonious.
Sounds like "If you drag a hundred dollar bill thru a trailer park, no telling what you might find"
No, the lesson is to send these scumbags to jail. I pegged this woman as a fraud the second I heard about it. I'm sure Wendy's execs did too. They will teach her a lesson. This is a fraud which has cost Wendy's millions. She will spend a long time in jail. Hopefully she'll get 20 years.
With your business accumen it is no wonder you are not running a chain of fast food franchises.
Unbelievable.
This woman just doesn't know how the game is played. She got greedy, and now, hopefully, will be going to jail.
How stupid did she have to be to think she could actually go to a jury trial with this thing and emerge with anything other than a set of handcuffs? She's pulled this scam before, for crying out loud! If she wants to go after Wendy's publically, all that is going to come out. Wendy's can't just roll over and take it, if they are being pilloried in the press.
After this woman went public, I agree with you, Wendy's had nothing to lose. They were screwed, and the only way out was through. Now their only consolation is vindication (long after the fact) as this woman recieves both barrels from the legal system.
I hope the Prosecutor can find some novel things to charge her with, like extortion, and find a way to fine her for the lost revenues of the Wendy's chain. Those fines are no longer dischargable in bankruptcy, in many cases. She could owe money to Wendy's for the rest of her life.
In regards to the Wendy's finger in the chili case, I think she had a hand in it.
In Wendy's chili, you silly goose!
I'm sure she will be charged with felonious finger finding.
I have gone to Wendy's more in the past few weeks than I usually do. If you eat this kind of fast-food, give Wendy's a visit. I almost bought stock a couple weeks after the initial claim. This fraud needs to cost her a lot...
I go to Wendy's about once a week. This business has been great for me, personally. No lines at all!
Wasn't there a mugger, in NYC, 30 years back , that stole rich ladies' rings by cutting off their ring fingers? Perhaps she was making use of a by-product of another crime.
Did anyone ever figure out or say where she got the damned finger in the first place?
Not that I've read yet. But maybe they found out and that's why they arrested her.
To be continued.................
Even though these were minimal face value policies - 10 or 15 thousand - and it could cost $20-25k to bring a case to jury trial, the company policy was NEVER to settle where arson or just garden variety insurance fraud was indicated. Their theory was that word got out in the Arsonist Community and scared the other scamsters away to buy their policies with other insurers.
The case we got (it was referred to us bec. of a conflict) involved a lady who had had a terrible run of bad luck -- 7 houses burned in 10 years -- plus her illegitimate half-sister and her common law husband were in Federal prison for running a burglary ring that stole household goods to put into houses to burn for the insurance money. Plus she lied on her policy application and said she hadn't had any fires in the last 3 years.
We got the Jury from Hell (at least for an arsonist) - the president of the local Holiday Inn corporation, an engineer, and a volunteer fireman (and those were just the ones that made it to the actual jury - you should have seen the folks the plaintiff had to strike.)
Four day trial - jury was out about 30 minutes - defense verdict. Judge told us it was the first defense verdict on an arson case in that county in about 10 years.
It was a ton of fun (it was my first jury trial) and from what we heard later it DID scare away the professional frauds.
The plaintiff came over to counsel table during a recess and asked me where I lived. I smiled and LIED.
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