Police point finger in Wendy's hoax
Published 7:44 am Monday, April 25, 2005
By By Lee Weyhrich
We're all suckers for food.
No matter if you're dieting or on the "seefood" diet, food is hard to pass up. After all, it is one of the main essentials in life.
For the past month, I've personally avoided one of my favorite fast-food establishments, Wendy's, for fear of getting the finger like Anna Ayala claimed.
The popular fast-food restaurant may have been suckered into a publicity stunt of sorts by Ayala who claimed she bit down on a well-manicured, 1 _-inch finger in a mouthful of her steamy chili on March 22. Following a detailed police investigation, Ayala was arrested on Friday on charges of attempted grand larceny.
Man, you can't trust anyone anymore!
The arrest of the Las Vegas resident is the latest twist in the case that has taken a bite out of Wendy's sales and forced the fast-food giant to check its employees for missing fingers.
Talk about a weird way of trying to land some big bucks quick, but it looks as if Ayala's plan has backfired and she got caught with her finger up her nose.
Two sources, who don't know each other, have come forth to San Jose, Calif. police officials and gave similar stories stating that Ayala described putting the finger in the chili. It looks like Wendy's owners are the ones who really got the finger.
Although no reports have been made, I'm sure that Wendy's restaurants across the country have suffered as a result of this hoax, which isn't the first to stem from Ayala, who has filed similar claims with several corporations.
Ayala said she received $30,000 from a Mexican food chain after her daughter got sick after eating at one of the restaurants, and in 2002 she tried to sell a mobile home in San Jose that she didn't own. The Mexican food chain denied paying her anything and the homeowner lost $11,000.
Now that the search for the finger is over, why don't the police start searching for Ayala's brain?
As for me, despite a mishap on Hwy. 331 outside of Montgomery when a tractor trailer carrying 6,000 chickens overturned, I'm going to stick with KFC. If you haven't heard, it's International Respect for Chickens Day on May 4 and I'll be paying my respects.
The chickens in the accident are clearly smarter than Ayala. They were either running for their lives or were overly excited about the upcoming holiday.
Either way, I'm confident the only finger I'll be served at KFC is chicken fingers.
Adam Prestridge is publisher of the Atmore Advance. He can be reached at 368-2123.