Anna Ayala was hungry for easy money, not chili.
On March 22, 2005, she sat down at a Wendy’s in San Jose, California, and claimed to have found a human finger among the meat and beans. The chain closed locations, lost millions in sales, and panic spread across the country. But police found no match with any employee or supplier, and that was when the lie began to unravel.
Her husband, Jaime Plascencia, had obtained the finger from a coworker who lost it in an industrial accident. Ayala cooked it and dropped it into her own dish. Both pleaded guilty, and a judge sentenced them to nine years in prison, plus $21.8 million in restitution to Wendy’s. She was released after four years for good behavior, with a condition that sounds like a joke: she may never set foot in a Wendy’s again, anywhere in the world.
