Nevada Couple To Be Sentenced In Chili Finger case
By Kim Curtis, Associated Press Writer - January 18, 2006SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ The Nevada couple who planted a human fingertip in a bowl of Wendy's chili in a plot to extort money from the restaurant chain faces sentencing Wednesday, and prosecutors have asked the judge to impose the maximum prison terms.
In court documents filed last week, Santa Clara County prosecutors called Jaime Plascencia and Anna Ayala "grifters" who demonstrated "a total selfishness and perceived entitlement to other people's money."
Plascencia, 44, and Ayala, 40, pleaded guilty on Sept. 9 to two felony charges arising from the chili-finger scam: conspiracy to file a false insurance claim and attempted grand theft with damages exceeding $2.5 million.
At most, Ayala faces nine years, eight months in prison for her part in the scam, among other charges. Plascencia could get 13 years in prison on the charges, including failing to pay child support.
The defense also filed documents last week, but Ayala's lawyer wouldn't provide them and they were unavailable from the court.
"It seems as though the district attorney's office is seeking to effect a judicial result through media pressure," defense lawyer Frederick Ehler said in a statement Tuesday. "The defense prefers to trust in the integrity of the process and to let the process run its course through the court."
Ayala claimed to have found the fingertip March 22 while dining with her family at a Wendy's in San Jose. Authorities said they believed it was a hoax, but the story quickly spread through headlines around the world. The Dublin, Ohio-based fast food chain claimed it lost $2.5 million in sales because of the bad publicity.
A search for the finger's owner eventually led to one of Placencia's co-workers, who lost it in an industrial accident, police said. Plascencia bought the fingertip from Brian Rossiter for $100 and told him what he and Ayala were planning, according to court documents. Rossiter later told police the couple offered him $250,000 to keep quiet, the prosecution filing said.
On May 13, San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis held a news conference and announced police had learned the source of the finger. Hours later, Ayala called her sister from jail and seemed convinced her son, who's now 18, had led police to Rossiter, according to court documents. She told her sister to sell the house where the boy was living and do it quietly.
"If he's going to be like that, then he's not my son," Ayala told her sister in Spanish. Prosecutors said the boy "remained faithful to his mother" and never told police what he knew about the crimes.
Prosecutor David Boyd, calling Ayala the "public face of this crime," said she presented a version of herself that is in "direct contrast to the apology that will be heard on Wednesday."
During Ayala's recorded telephone call from jail, she also seems to enjoy her notoriety by bragging about how other inmates were asking for her autograph.
"The defendants' crimes here demonstrate an organized, manipulative and deceitful attempt to extort money for their own benefit without regard to the individual and collective harm," prosecutors wrote. | 
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