Posted on 04/30/2005 12:11:32 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - San Jose police insisted that a search of the home of Anna Ayala's in-laws was not connected to the criminal case against Ayala and her claim of finding a finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili.
The Tuesday night search was part of a separate probe that began seven weeks before the March 22 incident when Ayala says she bit into the finger, according to Officer Enrique Garcia. He refused to divulge any other details of the earlier investigation.
But a relative said a detective asked a family friend during the search, "Do you know Anna?"
"If police were coming for a totally different thing, why would they ask about Anna?" asked Leticia Plascencia, Ayala's sister-in-law, who lives in the house that was searched. Plascencia said police told her that were conducting a drug investigation of a male friend who she said hadn't lived in the house for years.
Plascencia said family members suspected that police collected hair from combs and brushes during the search, raising the possibility that detectives are seeking a DNA sample to help track the finger.
Plascencia said her family was shaken by Ayala's arrest last week at her Las Vegas home.
"It's terrible," Plascencia said. "We can't believe what's happening."
Ayala, 39, has been charged with attempted grand theft relating to the food incident. Wendy's says that the bad publicity has cost it millions of dollars in lost sales. Ayala remained in a Las Vegas jail Friday awaiting return to San Jose to fight the charges.
Searching for the other nine digits...
The family members can't believe that's happening? Probably can't believe she finally got caught.
You can charge someone for THEFT over lost revenue?? I could see criminal charges for fraud or civil charges for libel/slander resulting in lost revenue, but I can't see theft.
It depends on how their statute is worded.
Attempted grand theft, old sport -- more precisely, the preparation to sue Wendy's under false pretenses.
BTW, it hasn't been made clear at all in the national mentions of this story why they know it's a hoax: "...tests showed that the digit wasn't cooked, a finding that undercuts Ayala's claim because Wendy's simmers the chili for hours."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/04/23/MNGFFCE37F1.DTL
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