Jury to Decide McDonalds Strip-Search Hoax Case

[PopCulturePooka]

I remember this when it happened a few years ago and watching some of the video.

Hope the girl wins.

http://www.comcast.net/news/national/index.jsp?cat=DOMESTIC&fn=/2007/10/04/779628.html
Jury to Decide Strip-Search Hoax Case

By BRETT BARROUQUERE, Associated Press Writer


SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. - A lawsuit filed by a woman who was forced to strip in a McDonald's back office at the behest of a caller posing as a police officer is in the hands of a jury.


Louise Ogborn, 21, is suing the fast-food giant, accusing it of failing to warn her and other employees about the hoaxer, who had already struck other McDonald's stores and other fast-food restaurants across the country.


The jury was to begin deliberating Thursday.


Ogborn is seeking $200 million in compensatory and punitive damages. McDonald's has said Ogborn is responsible for whatever damages she suffered for not realizing the incident was a hoax.


Ogborn was 18 and working at a McDonald's in April 2004 when she was forced to strip after a man called the store, claiming he was investigating a theft. At one point during the 3 1/2-hour search, the assistant manager's boyfriend was left to handle the phone call.


Donna Jean Summers, the assistant manager, was convicted of unlawful imprisonment. Her former fiancee, Walter Nix Jr., is serving a 5-year sentence for sexual abuse and other crimes.


Summers and Kim Dockery, who also was an assistant manager at the restaurant, are named as defendants in Ogborn's civil suit. Summers also has sued McDonald's over the incident and is asking the jury to award her $50 million.


A Florida man, David Stewart, was acquitted last year on charges of impersonating an officer, soliciting sodomy and soliciting sexual abuse in the incident.


During the trial, jurors watched more than an hour of a security video of the hoax call. On the video, a nude Ogborn is shown performing sex acts on herself and Nix.


Ogborn's attorney, Ann Oldfather, asked Ogborn why she simply didn't leave the manager's office at some point during the assault, particularly when she was left alone.


"I was scared, and I was petrified," Ogborn said. "I didn't know what was going to happen. I didn't know if this was my last day on Earth."


During closing arguments on Wednesday, McDonald's attorney, W.R. "Pat" Patterson, said McDonald's is a good corporate citizen that cannot be held responsible for mistakes made by employees.


"McDonald's is not the evil empire they'll make it out to be," Patterson said. "It should not be punished by giving them millions of dollars."


Summers' attorney, Glenn Cohen, said McDonald's made multiple mistakes in not sufficiently warning managers and said the restaurant chain's claim that it couldn't tell all 800,000 employees about the hoax isn't believable.


"They get the word out when there is a McRib special," Cohen said. "They get the word out on how to detect a counterfeit bill. They certainly can get the word out on that."

[PopCulturePooka]

For years there were a series of these incidents accross America and suspicion was on the same person calling up all the restaurants pretending to be a cop.

One of the reasons for the lawsuits isn't what happened, but that McDonalds and other chains had previous knowledge of this scam and had not sufficiently warned managers and staff that it could happen.

Eg memos to stores to be weary of callers pretending to be cops.

Why did the girl continue doing it after it obviously went bad?

Fear.

Have any of you seen the security footage?

The girl is a petite girl. At the time she was a tiny 18 year old.

Both the manager and her partner, the two people implicated are... larger.

The person on the phone said he was a cop and that she was being investigated for theft.

In the video, the girls in the managers office and most of the time the manager or her partner are physically imposing.

The 'cop' is intimidating her and the dumbass managers partner.

It becomes clear during the video the girls defenses and confidence are being broken down.

But after a while the incident becomes less a fake investigation into theft and making her humilate herself and very much becomes a situation where a terrified and bullied girl gets sexually assaulted and pretty much seems to fear for her safety. It pretty much becomes a rape.


For a MUCH more in depth analysis of what happened to Ogborn and the whole series of scams in general check out this link:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051009/NEWS01/510090392


And a youtube video that shows some of the footage and interviews with Ogborn and Summers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFXeXK3szOk

[darighaz]

i wouldn't blame the company though. They had nothing whatsoever to do with what happened. Some people were retarded and thats the whole cause. Strip search someone over the phone? Riiiiiight.

Corporate responsibilty for people being stupid needs to stop.

[PopCulturePooka]

i wouldn't blame the company though. They had nothing whatsoever to do with what happened. Some people were retarded and thats the whole cause. Strip search someone over the phone? Riiiiiight.

Corporate responsibilty for people being stupid needs to stop.
The issue is more or less that McDonalds knew that there was a history of this and didn't do enough to make employee's aware of it.

They had a plan to send stickers and signs to all stores to place on and near phones but never bothered to send them.

The two stores I worked at for a few years each would send memos and notices out every time a con was tried or made known. On store would even make every employee read a memo, repeat back what it was about and that they understood and sign a checklist stating they were made aware.

One scam that was going on while I was working at one of the stores was something about a man calling and asking for a particular female employee, stating he was from head office and 'confirming' her address, which he would then go and rob, knowing the woman was at work. As soon as management caught wind of this scam, they called meetings throughout the store telling everyone what was happening and what to do.

McDonalds didn't seem to do any of this and helped create an atmosphere that led to the girls sexual assault.

Should the parties involved have known better? Maybe. But theres a lot of psychology involved about what happened to the people involved when they thought they were in trouble with the law. And that psychology must ahve been widespread, as the guy had hit a lot of victims.

[Angelyne]

From the link Pooka posted:

Despite the mounting number of cases across the country, restaurant industry officials failed to act more quickly or decisively, Prewitt said, in part because "nobody could believe it, it was so weird."

Some of the strip-searches weren't even reported to police, because embarrassed restaurant officials were reluctant to publicize them, said Jablonski, the ex-FBI agent. The fiercely competitive chains also initially were reluctant to talk to each other. "For a variety of reasons, they were slow on the draw," he said.

PSA: If you are ever the victim of a crime, report it to the county or state police department yourself. Don't ever rely on your company or school to make reports to the police, because they have an active interest in covering up crime. This especially true of campus police. Often, university police will not notify the state and county police because not reporting them keeps campus crime statistics low.



Personally, I'm torn over this issue. I don't like blaming the victim, but even during my teens, I would have been smart enough to first call my parents and a lawyer before submitting to a strip search. Even shitty public schools force kids to learn about the Bill of Rights in elementary and middle school.

[Citizen]

Ununiformed prankster: "Hi, I'm a cop! I'm here to shoot you in the face!"
Victim: "Well, as long as you're a cop, I guess that's fine then."

That's how stupid you have to be to fall for a prank like this. I get that McDonalds didn't properly warn people, but... this just seems like a case of people having zero common sense. Not sure how I feel about this one.

Don't really think McDonals should have to pay for this one. The other people involved, though, are a different story. Multiple people going along with it and getting her to perform sexual acts and whatnot? Yeah, that needs to be taken care of.

[Candyvan Stan]

Sorry, Pooka. While I do understand your perspective, this seems to be a fantastic case of Darwinism at work right here. I think it's horrible and embarrassing for the girl, but... I'm sorry. I'd be lying if I said I felt much sympathy for her case. It's not really an opinion, it's just my gut feeling.

[Roxie]

belief in authority can be a very powerful thing, as can fear for losing your job or the fear that your life might be greatly hindered or in danger. Especially for one so young.

Some people just aren't strong enough to try and combat something they think is wrong when it comes from someone they believe has authority.

Now, is that McDonald's fault? No.

But they did not do enough to let all the employees know about this hoax going on. Strange enough or not, she was not his first victim, so I don't see any excuse why they didn't warn others. By them not warning all their employees, then they allowed it to happen.

[darighaz]

Warning to all employees. If people call and tell you to strip search your employees, DONT.


How do you warn employees not to be fucking retarded.

Heres the real warning.

WARNING. YOU ARE STUPID. PLEASE TRY TO AVOID LETTING IT SHOW.

Its the same as the hot coffee lawsuit. ITS FUCKING COFFEE. DONT SPILL THE SHIT ON YOURSELF.

By them not warning all their employees, then they allowed it to happen.

As i said, You can't warn people to not believe idiots that call on the phone and say they're the police. As a society, it is not beneficial to impose the limitations of being an idiot on everyone else. What i mean is, just because their employees are stupid doesn't mean that they should have to pay for it.

[PopCulturePooka]

Sorry, Pooka. While I do understand your perspective, this seems to be a fantastic case of Darwinism at work right here. I think it's horrible and embarrassing for the girl, but... I'm sorry. I'd be lying if I said I felt much sympathy for her case. It's not really an opinion, it's just my gut feeling.
Thing is it's not an isolated case, it happened numerous times across the country over a 10 year period. The guy was good at impersonating authority and picked his targets well.

I recall discussing this with a friend at the time and we agreed on a few things.

One the victim. The 'better' raised the person is to respect bosses, authority and the police without question, the more likely they are to go along with this.

Secondly, middle age female retail and fast food managers aren't really known for their brains in personal experience, but are known for being bullies to younger employee's. Like a supermarket manager I know who would boast about making 16 year old girls cry for being late.

I still contend for the girl at least at some point it became far less about believing he was a cop and she was in trouble and more about falling into a survival mechanism to deal with it, complying in the hope it ends soon and with less harm.

This case and the ones like it are classic examples of how people listen to 'authority', something that was detailed in the Milgrim Experiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment) (which was recently repeated with the same results.

Darghaiz, they could have made a simple warning. Such as 'if someone calls saying they are a cop, ask them for a contact number for the station they are from and you will call them back'. It's easy, can become a store policy.

Also, interesting you bring up the Hot Coffee case. You do know the facts about that, not the popular tale right? And you do know that McDonalds was resposible there for a few reasons... right?

[PopCulturePooka]

Oh, Jury ruled in favour of Ms Ogborn. McDonalds needs to pay up 6.1million.

http://www.wlos.com/template/inews_wire/wires.national/21b98b7f-www.wlos.com.shtml

[Roxie]

As i said, You can't warn people to not believe idiots that call on the phone and say they're the police.
Yes you can. It's called a memo.

At nearly all the jobs I've had we got memos/emails about all kinds of things that seemed really absurd and common sense...but you know what that's called to the company? CYA=cover your ass

They didn't.

[SlickWilly440]

^
What were some of the most absurd memos/emails that you have gotten?

Calling up a business, claiming to be a police officer, and getting the people there to perform unspeakable acts is the most worst PRANK phone call ever.

[Citizen]

They didn't.

They shouldn't have to for something this absurd.

[Roxie]

Yes they should. As previously mentioned, she wasn't the first. So, yes, they should've memo'd out about that. They didn't, so they got hit. They didn't CYA.

[Trump]

Yes you can. It's called a memo.

At nearly all the jobs I've had we got memos/emails about all kinds of things that seemed really absurd and common sense...but you know what that's called to the company? CYA=cover your ass

They didn't.

Roxie, perhaps you are confusing a desk job with a fast food position. Only a select few employees have a company email account and computer access. I'd bet it isn't more than 3-4 people per store, and you'd be lucky if more than 2 were at work at any one time. Most people just show up, clock in, do their job, and leave.

As for the case, while I cannot condone McDonald's not warning people about this hoax, they should not be fined millions of dollars for something they didn't do. I understand the point is that they didn't do anything, but McDonald's is not some evil place trying to hurt people. So why should they have to pay millions for a mistake? How many of you would email everyone you know every time something embarrassing happened?

$200 million also tells me this is all about money and nothing else.

[Roxie]

Roxie, perhaps you are confusing a desk job with a fast food position. Only a select few employees have a company email account and computer access. I'd bet it isn't more than 3-4 people per store, and you'd be lucky if more than 2 were at work at any one time. Most people just show up, clock in, do their job, and leave.
Uh no...I knew that...what does that have to do with anything?

[darighaz]

Yes i know, the coffee in that case WAS absurdly hot and there was really no reason for it, But its a convieient example for corps having to do something hideously obvious to cater to the idiots in society.

Roxie - If people are too stupid to disregard someone telling them to stripsearch someone over the phone, then sexually assault them, They're too stupid to read a memo. Or likly even know how to read.

The more we pander to the idiots in the society the more actually important problems get ignored.

[Roxie]

It doesn't really matter how stupid you think she was.
McD's didn't CYA when they should have, which allowed this thing to keep happening time and again, so they got hit.

[/|/@/|/@し]

::blinks:: Wow, there is a lot of the pot calling the kettle black in here.

Anyways, good for the girl that the court ruled on her side. A 90 pound TEENAGE girl being intimidated to do a strip search by a manager (cop or no cop, the manager was intimidating her) and then being forced to stay in that state, then raped without any control of the situation or ability to escape is a horrible horrible thing.

Yes, there was a lot of stupidity. But not from the girl, who was a victim in all of this.

[PopCulturePooka]

Roxie, perhaps you are confusing a desk job with a fast food position. Only a select few employees have a company email account and computer access. I'd bet it isn't more than 3-4 people per store, and you'd be lucky if more than 2 were at work at any one time. Most people just show up, clock in, do their job, and leave.

Hence you do what my workplace has done.

You MAKE sure each person has read the memo and sign that they have. IF someone hasn't signed, it's store managements job to make sure they do and they know.

And Dar, if a person can't read a memo and diseminate the info to staff, how did they get a managers role?

Also, the coffee case. Hideously obvious = keeping coffee at a somewhat safe recommended temperature, distributing it in packaging that won't easily fail and taking resposibility for the fact that they fucked up in the first place?

[MNJetter]

Roxie, perhaps you are confusing a desk job with a fast food position. Only a select few employees have a company email account and computer access. I'd bet it isn't more than 3-4 people per store, and you'd be lucky if more than 2 were at work at any one time. Most people just show up, clock in, do their job, and leave.
It's called "paper," dude. It still exists, even in the 21st century. :P

Those of you trying to actually BLAME the girl who was victimized: please note that crimes in the United States are not excused, nor is blame legally shifted away from the criminal, based on the intelligence of the victim, perpetrator, and/or accessories.

Companies are supposed to warn their employees about possible hazards at the workplace. They are responsible for their employees' safety while under their authority. McDonald's could have easily warned its stores about the incidents taking place. Or at least its managers. Even if the girl had no idea what was going on, if her manager was forewarned about the phony calls, she could have more easily recognized what was going on before anything untoward happened. But McDonalds didn't even do that.

It's not like they consciously did something to harm the girl, but the company certainly was lax in doing its part. And maybe next time they will consider the safety of its employees at least as financially important as enforcing health code rules, or warning about bad checks. Because while McDonalds might not be run by horrible people, it's financial ramifications that really put the extra boost in corporate motivation to do the right thing. And now, knowing they can be sued if it goes wrong, they have financial motivation to protect their employees from things like this.

[Jetsetlemming]

McDonalds should've sent out a memo warning about prank callers posing as police to their managers. They also shouldn't have had people to THAT extreme level of retardation managing a fucking store.
The manager and her boyfriend deserve to be fucking euthanised, jesus christ almighty.
The girl should've sensed something was bad, and fled. Right outside that office were customers and other people who wouldn't stand by and let her be dragged into a back room by the managers.

[Roxie]

btw, this story is on 20/20 tonight. it looks like they interview the girl. Oh, and the manager.

[PopCulturePooka]

As much as the boyfriend protests he didn't want too, I'm sure he HATED making a terrified tiny 18 year old his slave for 3 and a half hours.

[Roxie]

Wow, the manager is pulling an Alito.

[PopCulturePooka]

Wow, the manager is pulling an Alito.
Explain?

[Shishio]

OK, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand, this girl was coerced into stripping and performing sex acts. So she was basically raped.

So what I want to know is has anyone considered that if the girl refused to cooperate, they would have forced themselves on her? I mean OK, she may not be the brightest bulb in the box, but it seems stupid to me to condemn her and not the people who took advantage of her.

Also:

"They get the word out when there is a McRib special," Cohen said. "They get the word out on how to detect a counterfeit bill. They certainly can get the word out on that."

Game, set, and match.

[Radiance]

I love how McDonalds is trying to claim that they can't be responsible for their own employees. Seriously, how did that logic get past the cheap cocktail napkin it was no doubt drawn on.

Edit: Also, ROFL Roxie, you've been by Arts Center station within the past two days. I work right around the corner from it on 14th & Spring, its my stop for work. (I know this cause the beard was added within the past two days. It started out as just a mustache. :D I fell over laughing when I crossed the street and saw that, then other people noticed and followed suit.)

[Roxie]

Explain?
She says the girl never asked her for help and that she never saw her naked or crying. Then when confronted with the tape she said "I do not recall"

Ok, they're saying McD's sent out a mass voice mail to the managers.
Edit: Also, ROFL Roxie, you've been by Arts Center station within the past two days. I work right around the corner from it on 14th & Spring, its my stop for work. (I know this cause the beard was added within the past two days. It started out as just a mustache. :D I fell over laughing when I crossed the street and saw that, then other people noticed and followed suit.)
:rofl: yeah! I park in that parking lot a couple times a week. I saw that and I had to take a photo.
I'll miss that lot thought :(

[Angelyne]

Am I the only one who read Pooka's article?

McDonald's blamed what happened on Stewart and Nix, over whom it says it had no control. The company has sued both of them.

Its Louisville lawyer, W.R. "Pat" Patterson Jr., said McDonald's employee manual clearly noted its policy against strip-searches. "The employees didn't read it," Patterson said in an interview. "That is all I can say."

The company admits it knew of the earlier hoaxes, but Patterson said it reacted appropriately by sending memos to owners and franchisees. "McDonald's did what every quick-serve restaurant did — maybe more."

Assuming this is true, then I fail to see how McDonald's HQ failed to warn its franchisees. I'm not sure how much more they could have realistically done to stop this crime beyond not hiring dumbasses.

[Roxie]

what was up with that manager then?

[PopCulturePooka]

Am I the only one who read Pooka's article?



Assuming this is true, then I fail to see how McDonald's HQ failed to warn its franchisees. I'm not sure how much more they could have realistically done to stop this crime beyond not hiring dumbasses.
I'm trying to find the other article where in said the memos McDonalds sent mentioned prank calls, but didn't specify strip searches or sexual acts.

[PopCulturePooka]

http://www.pioneernews.net/articles/2007/10/02/breaking_news/breaking02.txt

An Amalgam of various articles about the court cases. Some interesting snippets both for and against McDonalds.

Edit:

Andy Ball is the operations manager of the Indianapolis region for McDonald's Corp.

He oversees the stories in the region. However, he couldn't remember ever receiving any information from corporate officials on the rash of strip search incidents occurring in restaurants across the country.

During testimony on Friday morning, Ball told the attorney for Louise Ogborn that he could not recall getting any information or warnings. If he did, it would have been his job to pass along the information to those working at the local McDonald's restaurants.

And, if the warning stated that strip search incidents were occurring, Ball said he felt such a warning could have helped protect employees like Ogborn, who was assaulted on April 9, 2004.

[PopCulturePooka]

"It should warn its employees," Kennedy said of McDonald's. "It should train its employees."

While there was a strongly worded memo sent out by corporate officials, Kennedy said it never got to the local level.

Doing interviews with several levels of management, Kennedy said he found that no one at the store was informed of the memo and the regional manager did not even know about it.

There was a voice mail sent out to managers a week before the Mount Washington incident. But Kennedy said it was vague and did not mention any warnings about strip searches.

In getting a warning out to the employees, Kennedy said it is simply more than sending out a memo.

"The goal is to make the recipient as aware as the sender," said Kennedy.

In looking at the Mount Washington case, Kennedy said it appeared McDonald's security officials did different things. Divided into regions, he said it didn't appear that any one single strategy was taken.

"Nobody at that store...knew anything about this," Kennedy said of the local restaurant staff.

"The left hand didn't know what the right had was doing," said Kennedy.


hmmm

[darighaz]

I dont think anyone here ever said the victim was retarded, i think the intent of the communication was that whoever believed that phone call in the first place when it got to the point of strip searching was retarded. This is the managers as i understand, the managers should permanently be in prison.

Also, i've worked at McDonalds, the managers have the intelligence of bricks most of the time. Its not the fault of the corporation that its employees can't make very basic logical choices. According to last bunch of posts, there WAS a memo warning its staff about prank phone calls. And now you're going to say, Well it doesn't warn about strip searches specifically?

Here i'll say it.

Pull your head out of your corporation hating ass and just think for a minute, dwell on this, McDonalds cannot appoint someone to follow every employee around in their organization making sure that they make smart choices all the time. Hell, McDonalds is a franchise, they dont even OWN the stores that are being screwed with. The store employees aren't chosen by the McDonald corporation, therefore the corp being sued doesn't even have a say in how dumbshit the managers are. Idiot watchers would /should be coming from the owners anyway.

At some point in our society we have to draw a line and stop making everyone fodder for getting sued because someone somewhere made a stupid choice and the victim wants cash. The managers sexually assaulted a young girl because someone on the phone told them to. They go to prison, sue them for damages if you want, but thats the end of the road. Justice has already been served. The only person here who yet needs to be delt with is the prank caller, and i'd really LOVE to know if that stores phone records have been pulled yet. Pranker is scum and needs to be delt with.

[Roxie]

the pranker was acquitted. i doubt there's a precident for "over the phone, through a third party" abuse.

[Jetsetlemming]

the pranker was acquitted. i doubt there's a precident for "over the phone, through a third party" abuse.
Really? I thought they never caught him.

[Roxie]

Nope. It's in the quote of the article PCP posted. It was also on 20/20 last night.

[PopCulturePooka]

Really? I thought they never caught him.

From one of the articles about how they caught him:

Hunting for suspect

Lone detective presses Bullitt case, gets help

The lone detective on the Mount Washington Police Department, Buddy Stump, had worked only a few weeks as an investigator when he got the call.

He had spent most of his career doing factory work and was home watching an "Andy Griffith" rerun when his deputy commander assigned him the case. "I joked that I was watching my training films," Stump recalled.

He was furious when he saw the store surveillance video. "It burned me up that this had happened to an 18-year-old girl," he said.

He was able to track down the phone number the call had been made from, but it was listed to a nonexistent phone and turned out to have been made on a pre-paid calling card. "I figured we didn't have a chance to catch him," Stump said.

He eventually learned the call had originated in Panama City, and that the largest seller of phone cards there was Wal-Mart. But that didn't help much — the largest seller of everything is Wal-Mart, and it has three stores in Panama City alone.

But a Panama City detective told Stump a bit of interesting news — an officer from West Bridgewater, Mass., was hot on the same trail.

Detective Sgt. Vic Flaherty had been assigned to lead a task force investigating the crimes after the caller hit four Wendy's in the Boston suburbs on one night in February 2004.

Flaherty had traced a calling card used in some of the hoaxes to one of the Panama City Wal-Marts, but that store's surveillance video only captured customers entering and exiting, not at the registers.

After hearing about the Bullitt County call, however, he helped Stump trace that calling card to its source. This time, they were in luck: It was purchased at 3:02 p.m. at another Wal-Mart in Panama City on April 9, 2004 — just hours before it was used to call the Mount Washington McDonald's.

The camera at that store was trained on the registers, and it showed the purchaser was a white man, about 35 to 40, with slicked-back black hair and glasses. The same man could be seen on Flaherty's video entering the other Wal-Mart, where he was wearing a black jacket with small white lettering.

Flaherty and a colleague flew to Panama City on June 28, 2004, and local officers immediately identified the jacket as the uniform worn by officers of Corrections Corp.of America, a private prison company.

When they showed it to the warden at the company's Bay Correctional Facility, he identified the man as David R. Stewart, 38, a guard on the swing shift.

Stewart denied making the calls, but when confronted, he started to "sweat profusely and shake uncontrollably," Flaherty wrote in a report. Stewart also asked, "Was anybody hurt?" and said, "Amen, it's over," according to the report.

Stewart insisted he'd never bought a calling card, but when detectives searched his house, they found one that had been used to call nine restaurants in the past year, including the Idaho Falls Burger King on the day its manager was duped.

Police also found dozens of applications for police department jobs, hundreds of police magazines, police-type uniforms, guns and holsters. "It was very apparent Dave Stewart wanted ... to become a police officer," Flaherty said.

Mount Washington became the first department to charge Stewart.Stump drove to Panama City to arrest him on June 30, 2004.

Stewart eventually was brought to Bullitt Circuit Court, where he pleaded not guilty to solicitation to commit sodomy and impersonating a police officer, both felonies, as well as soliciting sex abuse and unlawful imprisonment, both misdemeanors. He was released on $100,000 bond pending his trial Dec. 13. His bond was posted by his brother, C.W. Stewart — a retired police officer from Cheektowaga, N.Y.



Not smart enough?

Suspect considers himself `a victim as well,' letter says

Married 11 years and the father of five, Stewart had worked as a mall security guard, volunteered as an auxiliary sheriff's deputy, and driven a propane truck before taking the prison guard job.

He had worked 11 months there before his arrest; he was fired a week later.

His family has stood behind him — his mother said he is "a good boy" and another relative said he's well liked in Cheektowaga, the Buffalo suburb where he grew up.

Stewart declined to be interviewed, but in a letter responding to Ogborn's suit in Bullitt Circuit Court, he said: "I received your notice but I'm in no way responsible. I feel bad for your loss because I am a victim as well. I lost my job, my home and my car all over something I did not do."

In fact, he deeded his residence, a $37,900 mobile home on a dirt road 20 miles north of Panama City, to his wife for $100, according to Florida property records.

His Louisville lawyer, Steve Romines, said his client is not bright enough to have pulled off the hoaxes. "Based on numerous conversations with my client, I don't believe he is persuasive or eloquent enough to convince somebody to do these preposterous things," Romines said in an interview.

Stewart has been charged only in Bullitt County. Flaherty said prosecutors in Massachusetts are awaiting the outcome of the Kentucky case before deciding whether to proceed against him.

Detectives in other jurisdictions say they didn't press charges because the caller's crime would be a misdemeanor for which he could not be extradited.

There has not been a reported hoax call since Stewart's arrest, according to police and lawyers for the restaurant industry. Romines said there have been two, but he declined to say where, and none have been reported by news organizations.






And about his acquital:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15504125/

Although apparantly there have been no further calls after he was done.

[Jetsetlemming]

Oh, that's where I got the impression the caller wasn't caught; the guy they arrested was acquitted. OK.

[darighaz]

That dude seriously needs to be in prison.

[Televisions_Nick]

She got $6.1 mil.
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/05/strip.search.ap/

The whole thing is outlandish and creepy.

[Thrundill]

Some days the judicial system of this country just makes me sick.
They found the cards that were used to make 9 of the phone calls involved in his house , they have a video of him buying phone cards in the same very wall mart they were all bought, but it's not enough.

As per Mac Do being sued, it's only a commodity. They sent a vocemail to all restaurants warning of Phone hoaxes (and just couldn't cover -all- of the possible requests made on phone. Say they warn against strip search, but not against oral acts. They can be sued for not warning against this? How big can the list be?).
The absence of training or an email describing super-precisely -all- that could happen in said hoaxes is not replacement for common sense.

On top of that, normal employee behavior, as noted, is listed in the employee manual that explicitely prohibits body searches, unless conducted by police officer themselves. And I still can't believe that people took the word of someone on the phone pretending to be a police officer...
:frypan:

[Roxie]

In the interview on 20/20 the girl said she repeatedly asked the manager to take her to the police station (instead of being stripped searched), but they wouldn't.

a vlog (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4ExalG3r4Q)about it
OH, here some of the 20/20 video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKq1EpB2gNo)
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1297922

[darighaz]

Unfortunaly, the girl isn't exactly what i'd call a credible source at this point. Shes out for cash and will say anything that results in her getting it.

[Roxie]

wow..
i'm sure that's what she was thinking of when she was crying, doing jumping jacks, sitting there half naked, blowing that guy against her will. I'm sure the cash was the first thought in her mind.

On the video tape you can actually see her crying. The manager denied that she ever asked for help (like that's an excuse?), but it is clear on the tape. The manager walks in after leaving the girl alone with the fiance and girl reaches over and grabs her shoulder....of course, I'm sure she was saying "no, pls leave, I'm trying to milk the system here!"

[darighaz]

Yea, because obviously when all this was happening, She was making statements to 20/20 reporter who happened to be in the room about what they were doing to her.

I'm referring to now, not while it was happening.... Stop using sensationalist bullshit to try and make points when they're not even in the context of whats being said.

[Mastiker]

I'm referring to now, not while it was happening.... Stop using sensationalist bullshit to try and make points when they're not even in the context of whats being said.

Sometimes, just sometimes, people are actually fucked over. Get your cynical head out of your ass.

Please? :3

[darighaz]

I didn't even say she wasn't fucked over. I just said, taking her at her word on 20/20 as a source of factual info at this point is pretty damn biased. Its nothing to do with cynical, its distancing yourself from the topic you can make logical opinions.

Sorry, i'll try and be more bandwagon-ish and emotional about things.

<Someone claims to be a victim of.... anything>

God what bastards i hope they all die, Corporations suck, its probably their fault, lets throw cash around at everyone. Also, i ignore all logical argument because listening to other people is for sissys.

Edit: my response was at roxie totally misinterpreting what i said. Not really sure how your response to the quote makes any relevent sense. Unless roxie got somehow fucked over?


I never once said the victim was somehow a bad/weak person. Just that none of this is McD's fault and a 200 million lawsuit is absolutely ridiculous. On top of that, using the victim as a source for evidence, when they're at this point clearly out for personal gain, MIGHT not be the most impartial source.

[Mastiker]

Actually, I agree with you ^.^ I was just trying to do the exact opposite of what you said to see how silly Roxie must have felt when she wrote that.

Getting the employee to know things is pretty important, and I can see where the initial issue would be but... meh. I can't see someone getting that much money from getting screwed over, especially when it wasn't McDonalds on the other end of that phone telling her to do those things. If anyone should have to pay money, it should be the manager, her boyfriend, and the prick on the other end of the line.

She's still probably traumatized by it, and will be for a while but... 6.1 mil? From the wrong people?

I do believe I detect some BS.

[PopCulturePooka]

You did watch the video from youtube I psoted that interviewed her?

That interview was done in 94, before she started any lawsuit proceedings.

[Mastiker]

You did watch the video from youtube I psoted that interviewed her?

That interview was done in 94, before she started any lawsuit proceedings.

No, but I think I shall. It failed to work for me... might change my opinion, you wager?

[Comazon]

Well it took me way too long to write this, as I was planning on defending Darighaz (too little, too late), but I don't care... I'll post it anyway. :P


What the hell is wrong with Darighaz's statement? The girl is a victim of this whole thing, and no one's denying it.

However, she did indeed file a lawsuit after the fact, and for what purpose above all else? Money. Right now, I wouldn't think it'd be too far-fetched for her to stretch the truth as far as it can go in order to maximize the amount of money she receives.

Is it that difficult to believe that she's in the "I hate them and I want to hit them as hard as I can" mentality? I'm sure we've all had that mentality from time-to-time, and what happened to her would be more than adequate in spurring this.

The things that happened to her were obviously horrible by themselves, but if she can get away with at least one small lie, which could potentially equate to thousands of dollars more than the amount she may have received originally, she might try to get away with it. That's all Darighaz said.

Neither I nor Darighaz know if she's speaking the 100% truth on 20/20 or not, but there are people who will try to cash in on their own misfortunes to the best of their ability. Not everyone is self-righteous enough to present the 100% honest-to-God truth and leave it to the courts to deem what's fair.

If I misinterpreted your point-of-view completely Darighaz, whoops. :box:

[Mastiker]

Yeah, that interview didn't do anything for me. The girl got fucked over, but not by McDonalds. Sorry, but I don't think she deserved 6.1 mil from Mickey D's.

[Roxie]

when they're at this point clearly out for personal gain,
But where do you get that from? I would say the manager is clearly out for personal gain and should be in jail like her ex.

I'm not a lawyer (and neither was that girl), but I think there's more than just this girls case in mind when it came to asking for 200 million (that I'm also pretty sure she didn't come up with that figure) that they knew they wouldn't get. Like The fact this thing had been happening around the country at various mcdonald's for 10 years. Why did it take mcd's so very long to get the word out (and obviously they didn't do it well)?

However, blaming the victim in this case saying "Oh, she was just out for the money" is almost as bad as the psychologist mcd's hired that said she didn't suffer any PTS, but PTG (post traumatic growth). Ok, maybe not really..cause you're not being really horrible at your profession and making your fellows hang their head in shame, but I find it really awful and crass thing to say. Where does that start and stop? Was she out for the money while it was happening and just decided to go along? Or was she out for the money as soon as it was finished? Or was she out for the money once she talked to her lawyer? I mean, it's said as if she had no legal adviser and dreamed up 200 mill with a smile on her face as she sat there in that back room.

Is it that difficult to believe that she's in the "I hate them and I want to hit them as hard as I can" mentality? I'm sure we've all had that mentality from time-to-time, and what happened to her would be more than adequate in spurring this.
Oh, see that I understand. That's a little more complicated than "gimmie cash".

Also, can anyone clarify if the fiance worked at mcd's or was just hanging around?

[darighaz]

Seriously, What the hell?

However, blaming the victim in this case saying "Oh, she was just out for the money" is almost as bad as the psychologist mcd's hired that said she didn't suffer any PTS, but PTG (post traumatic growth).

NO ONE IS BLAMING THE VICTIM FOR ANYTHING. I"M SAYING YOU DON'T SUE SOMEONE FOR 200 MILLION DOLLARS, BECAUSE YOU REALLY FEEL THE INJUSTICE TO SOCIETY. ITS BECAUSE YOU WANT SOME MONEY.

And you sue for 200 million so that you get 6. If you sue for 6 you get 100k.

Stop saying such obviously retarded crap, like

Was she out for the money while it was happening and just decided to go along?

in an attempt to discredit what I'm saying. It may work with people who think the cops will call you over the phone and have you strip search someone (HI I'M REFERRING TO THE MANAGERS SINCE YOU NEED TO BE REMINDED), but we here of Citizenville are a step ahead these days

If interview was before she mentally decided that she would eventually sue, then i rescind my claim that she was unbiased. However, as i consider it vastly unlikely that she decided to go on 20/20 unless there was something to gain from it, my statement stands.

Oh and its been happening at mcdonalds for about 10 years because theres 2 types of people that work at mcdonalds. 1) People that need some cash to float them over while they try and accomplish something meaningful (college or whatnot, depending where you are). and 2) Idiots who cant get a job doing anything else. The latter greatly outnumbers the former.

[PopCulturePooka]

The fiancee wasn't an employee.

Which is why McDonalds fired the manager. BEcause she breached rules by letting non-employees into the managers office. Not because she got conned and cause an employee to get raped.

[Roxie]

darighaz, if you meant what Comazon explained, then I understand what you were trying to say.

[darighaz]

It was pretty much what i ment.

[Trump]

My entire life is not worth $6 million. You would be VERY hard pressed to prove to me something that happened 3.5 years ago is worth $200 million.

[japanat]

I think that what happened to this girl is truly horrendous, but...

I honestly don't think MickeyD is at fault, at all. Why should they have to send memos and make sure all their staff nationwide understand that this is a hoax? Isn't it obviously one? Don't the staff have any brains at all?

What kind of idiot would perform such actions when ordered over the telephone? Anyone who moved beyond asking someone to empty their pockets is already illegal, and even my 7-yr-old knows that you don't touch someone "there". And fellatio doesn't qualify as search & seizure in any way, does it (unless she bites!)?

The manager and her fiance may have been hoaxed into beginning this search, but they very quickly crossed a line that McD's has nothing to do with. McD didn't know they were capable of such actions and then ignore them, like happened with the American Catholic Church scandal, didn't try to cover previous actions.

But since that doesn't pay for the therapy this young lady will be needing for many years, and her insurance would probably at some point balk at continuing to pay for it, McD's gets hit with a $200M lawsuit and a 6.1M payout.