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Free milkshakes all weekend at bay area Wendy's

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--- served with funky looking straws..

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She's being held without bail, which seems pretty stiff for an all-circumstantial evidence case?

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--- yep.. no official explaination so far, just a lot of finger pointing...

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Mother: Wendy's Finger Used to Settle Debt

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- A man who lost part of his finger in a workplace accident was the source of the fingertip used in an alleged scam against Wendy's restaurants, and gave it away to settle a debt, his mother said.

"My son is the victim in this," Brenda Shouey said in an interview published in Wednesday's San Francisco Chronicle. "I believe he got caught in something, and he didn't understand what was going on."

Anna Ayala, 39, was arrested April 21 at her Las Vegas home on suspicion of attempted grand theft for allegedly costing Wendy's millions of dollars in a plot to shake down the company by claiming she found the finger in a bowl of chili in a restaurant in San Jose.

Ayala was to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.

Shouey, of Worthington, Pa., said her son, Brian Paul Rossiter, 36, of Las Vegas, lost part of his finger in December in an accident at a paving company where he worked with James Plascencia, Ayala's husband. His hand got caught in a mechanical truck lift, she said.

She said he gave it to Plascencia to settle a $50 debt.

San Jose police announced last week the finger was obtained from an associate of Plascencia, but they have refused to identify him because he is cooperating in the investigation. They did not immediately return a message Wednesday seeking comment on the newspaper's account.

Shouey said her son had showed the severed finger to co-workers in a macho display of humor and was desperate for cash when he gave it away "to this character, James."

"My son is a happy-go-lucky guy. He thought it was cute to show" the severed finger, Shouey said. "It's like a man thing."

Shouey declined to give details of how the finger was preserved or whether Rossiter knew why Plascencia allegedly wanted the finger. She said her son told her of his role only this week and is keeping a low profile after undergoing intense police questioning.

Plascencia was arrested earlier this month on unrelated charges of failingto pay child support in a previous relationship.

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Wendy's International Inc. confirmed on Tuesday it would pay the $100,000 reward it promised for information that helped establish the origin of a piece of human finger a woman claimed she had found in a bowl of the burger chain's chili.

The reward will be split between an anonymous individual and the owner of a Las Vegas paving company where one of the two defendants facing criminal charges arising from the finger case had obtained the human flesh.

Wendy's, the third-largest U.S. burger chain, offered the reward in early April after Las Vegas resident Anna Ayala claimed she bit into a piece of finger while eating chili from one of its restaurants in San Jose, California.

Ayala and husband, Jaime Placencia, were later arrested and pleaded guilty this month on charges they planted the finger in the chili to obtain compensation from Wendy's.

Investigators determined Placencia obtained the piece of finger from a co-worker at a Las Vegas paving company operated by Mike Casey, one of the recipients of Wendy's reward.

He will split the reward with another person who wished to remain anonymous. Neither authorities nor Wendy's would release that individual's name.

"We sincerely thank these citizens for stepping forward and calling the special hotline number with information that helped investigators break open this case," Wendy's said in a statement.

Ayala and Placencia are scheduled to be sentenced in state court in San Jose on November 2 on charges that included attempted grand theft.

Ayala faces a maximum possible sentence of nine years and eight months in prison. Placencia faces a maximum possible sentence of 13 years in prison, which would include time for a number of unrelated charges for failing to pay child support.

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The finger.. having writ.. moves on..

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A couple who planted a human finger in a bowl of chilli in the hope of gaining compensation from Wendy's fast food chain have been jailed in California.
Anna Ayala, 39, was sentenced to nine years and her husband Jaime Placencia, 43, will serve 12 years, four months.

Ayala's false allegation was said to have cost the third-largest US burger chain $2.5m (�1.4m) in lost sales.

The woman had claimed she had bitten into the finger at a Wendy's restaurant in San Jose, California, in March 2005.

Investigators later found the finger belonged to construction worker Brian Rossiter, who had lost it in an industrial accident and sold it to Mr Placencia for $100.

Forensic tests

Ayala gave a tearful apology to her friends and Wendy's employees before she and her husband were taken into custody by baliffs at the San Jose court.

"Greed and avarice overtook this couple," said Superior Court Judge Edward Davila, adding that the pair had "lost their moral compass".

The two pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to file a false insurance claim and attempted grand theft with damages exceeding $2.5m (�1.4m)

Forensic tests showed that Ayala had not bitten the finger as she had claimed.

And police documents revealed she had sued a number of corporations in the past, sometimes settling out of court in return for a payout.

The fast food chain always insisted that the finger did not originate at one of its establishments as no staff had lost a digit and no suppliers had reported any accidents involving hands.

It said it had to sack employees because of the loss in sales as a result of the negative publicity.

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Anna Ayala, 39, was sentenced to nine years and her husband Jaime Placencia, 43, will serve 12 years, four months.

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They each got 9 years for the finger incident - his additional time is for failure to pay child support.. apparently these things come out when you attempt extortion

The kicker of today's sentencing though, is that they were ordered to pay $21.2 million in restitution to Wendy's International, nearly $500,000 to JEM Management, which owns the Wendy's where the incident (didn't) occur, and $170,605 to Wendy's employees for lost wages.



Of course you have to factor in the $100 they paid for the finger to get the true cost of this crime