'Copycat' charged in McD's scheme
Cops say man placed objects in sandwich, then claimed injury
Thursday, January 20, 2005
By Michaelangelo Conte
Journal staff writer
WEST NEW YORK - A Cliffside Park man has been charged with cutting his own mouth with a razor and stuffing his McDonald's chicken sandwich with staples and a paper clip in an apparent copycat attempt to cash in with a lawsuit against the company, officials said.
The incident follows a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Beatriz Bermeo of North Bergen against the same Bergenline Avenue McDonald's, in which she claims she ingested five needles that were inside her chicken sandwich.
At about 2 p.m. Tuesday, West New York police arrested Jose Rodriguez, 48, and charged him with supplying a false report to law enforcement and tampering with or fabricating evidence, Capt. Robert Antolos said.
Police responding to a call of someone biting into a sandwich containing a sharp object arrived at the McDonald's to find Rodriguez bleeding from the mouth, Antolos said.
Rodriguez had created a scene in the restaurant, showing other customers and police the sandwich, which had staples and a paper clip protruding from it, Antolos said.
Rodriguez was taken to Palisade Medical Center while police began an investigation in which "evidence was recovered at the scene indicating that this new incident was nothing but a scam," Antolos said.
The investigation revealed that Rodriguez ordered a chicken sandwich and took it into the restroom, where he bit into it and spit the portion out into the garbage, Antolos said.
He then placed a row of staples and a bent paper clip into the middle of the sandwich and rewrapped it, Antolos said.
Finally, he took out a razor blade and used it to cut the inside of his mouth before discarding the blade in the garbage, Antolos said.
Rodriguez then walked back into the restaurant, sat down at a table and faked biting the sandwich before pretending to have been cut, Antolos said.
Armed with the evidence, police visited Rodriguez at the hospital and gave him another chance to say what happened, but he gave them the same story, Antolos said.
They then showed him the evidence against him and he admitted he had fabricated the story, Antolos said.
Rodriguez was arrested and his fingerprints and mug shot were taken in the hospital before he was released on his own recognizance to receive treatment for the cut in his mouth, which was serious enough to require stitches, Antolos said.
He said the investigation leading to Rodriguez's arrest used procedures put in place at the restaurant in consultation with police in the aftermath of the Bermeo incident.
Antolos would not comment on whether video security cameras were employed. The case against Rodriguez is to be presented to a grand jury.
Bermeo's lawsuit alleges that on Dec. 29 she was in the restaurant when she bit into a sandwich and pain shot through her, said her attorney, Rosemarie Arnold of Fort Lee.
Bermeo clutched at her throat, thinking she was choking, and her husband opened her mouth, saw two needles stuck in her, and pulled them out, Arnold said.
Bermeo was taken to Palisades Medical Center, where three more needles were surgically removed from her digestive tract, Arnold said, adding that Bermeo spent three days in the hospital before her release. She is suing McDonald's for an unspecified sum, Arnold said.
A criminal investigation is actively being pursued into all aspects of the Bermeo incident, Antolos said yesterday. Antolos credited Detectives Ed Monty, Ray Hernandez and VictorMartinez for the teamwork that led to a quick determination of what happened on Tuesday.
"Hopefully this will stem any copycat crimes," Antolos said.
― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 24 January 2005 16:16 (twenty-one years ago)