Bat bi hiru lau
Watch your back, watch your back
Ertzaintza's gonna get you
Watch your back, watch your back
Ertzaintza's gonna get you
Watch your back, watch your back
Oh, there's a crime here
It's a coming from the Euskal hernia
Gotta wash those red hands
It's the crimes of the basquelands
It was probably raining a lot here
I think so
And then went into France
Pays Basque of France
The northern Basque Country
How cute
Were they northern?
We went to Saint-Juan-de-Luz
Cute, what a cute little town
I mean I've been there but it was a long time ago
Probably 20 years ago
I know, right?
It was a long time ago, almost 20 years ago
That I was there
Anyway, this is the crimes of the Basque lands
Welcome everybody
You guys know this is the True Crime Podcast
We expect this podcast to be hashtag Mom Safe
Oh yes, yes
So not too many gory details for everybody listening
There's a little gore
But yeah, it's Mom Safe for sure
It's pretty Mom Safe
We'll go cover your ears, moms
No, no, not this one
Sounds cool
But anyway, it's crimes of the Basque lands and it's a True Crime Podcast
Be prepared for crimes
And it's covering crimes that are in the Basque Country
Or around the world
Connected to the Basque Country somehow
Any tenuous link
That's right
This week we're drinking
We talked about our drinks as
Oh, I'm having a wine that I'm trying for the first time
It's, let me see
Bine Basque is the name
Oh yes
And the grape was
What was it called?
Oh, it's very cute
Ondarribi Suri
So Ondarribia is a town on the coast
And Suri means white
So the white Ondarribi grape is what it's made of
And the wine comes from the city of Sarauts
That's Gipusco, right?
And we were saying it's pretty acidic, right?
Yeah, I mean it reminded me a lot of Cidre
Cider, yeah, the local cider
Yeah
It's quite fruity, yeah, it tastes like apple to me
I think right now it's gained a lot from when we poured it immediately
Because it was a bit colder
Maybe it had to breathe
I'm liking it more
But again, very acidic, very
Like fresh
A summer wine I would say
Yeah
Alright, so like as Douglas was saying
This week we have a mom safe episode, okay?
Mm-hmm
You know, there's no murder
Oh, right
But it does have a bit of gore
But it's definitely mom safe
And in fact, I bet my mom remembers this story
Oh yeah
So it's something that was in the news
Oh right
I was already living here when this happened
And I just moved here
So
I didn't get all the news
bombardment
I didn't hear about it, really
I didn't hear a lot about it
I think I'd heard of it in passing
But I hadn't like
Because I guess in the States
Because this is from the States, another story from the States
But
Yeah, I was here so I wasn't very
Intuned to what was happening in the States
I was starting out over here
And it happens
And it was kind of
It was still those last few years
When it wasn't
You know
You didn't have, there was no smartphones yet
Right? So you weren't like always
Inundated with things that were happening
In the US
Everywhere
So unless you really
Seeked it out, went on to a computer
I didn't even have a computer
When I moved here, I didn't have a laptop or anything
So
That tells you how old I am
But, whatever
Tell me about it
Well, time goes by
It does, it doesn't stop
This is the changes, so that's kind of funny, I was thinking about that
Like, oh yeah, I didn't really even have like a
I had one of those really Nokia phones
It was
I didn't even have a laptop at the time
That isn't crazy
I wasn't even using a computer very often
Did you call up your family?
I call my family on the phone
You used one of these cards
I used to use a phone, a calling card, yeah
And I go to a pay phone
I'd have to leave my flat to go
To public phone
To make a phone call to my mom
I mean, my ones, by that
By the time I came to live here, I had been using a little card
That you'd buy
And I would just call an 0800 number
And that would be free
And then from inside the 0800 number
I'd call my mom
Exactly, you'd call the 0800 number
But if it was a landline, I could
Do it from home
I didn't have a landline
I was living in a shitty
Apartment
That didn't have anything
It was fucking cheap
I live with my bar friend already
Because we already
I moved here, my bar friend was already here
So, you know
He had a landline
Isn't that nice?
The advantages
Boyfriend
The sources for this story
There was a few
I can't mention all of them
But the main ones were like
The SFGate
Which is San Francisco
SFGate, New York Times
NBC News, CBS News
Time Magazine
And of course
Wikipedia
Trustee Wikipedia
And a podcast
That I listen to a lot
It inspired me
Give them a shout out
So it's Once Upon a Crime
The host is Esther Ludlow
Sanchez
And she does a really good job
And she's also very
Generous about giving other podcasts
That's nice
You know, like
A platform
To promote their other
Podcasts and stuff
So she's really cool
So she inspired me
For this story
I was like, oh I could tell that story
So our bass connection
What's our bass connection? What do you think it might be?
I'm gonna guess it's a surname
You're right
It's Ayala
Ayala is the surname
And it's spelled A-Y-A-L-A
Which is the old
Spanish way of doing it
Right, it's
Deriving from the town
Of Ayala which is Ayara
In Basque, Ayala is the Castellano
Version
And Ayara is the name
Of the town
It's A-I-A-R-A
Okay, 1R
And it's in Alaba
So, there you go
So, and then Ayala
Here is a pretty popular
Girl's name
In fact we have
Friends, students
Lots of people I know named Ayala
And that's spelled
A-I-A-L-A
Right?
Yep, you got it
That's the first name
So yeah, there we go
So, place name
Place name, connection
Want to hear my one sentence
Synopsis?
Go for it babe
Although chili
Isn't considered a finger food
One woman found
Just the opposite
To be true
Oh my gosh, this is too many layers to be
Very interesting
I'm more scared now
Let's go for it
So our story takes place in San Jose, California
This is a city
That's like across the bay from
San Francisco, so it's considered the
Bay area, just south of it, isn't it?
I have no idea if it's north or south
I think it is
So, on March 22nd, 2005
39 year old
Anna Ayala
Entered the Wendy's
Restaurant on Monterey Road along
With her husband, Jamie Placencia
Now, his name is spelled G-A-M-I-E
But perhaps if they were
Latinx or Mexican
American or whatever
Maybe he went by Jaime, so I'm not really sure
If it's Jaime or Jamie
Sure
So, the couple
Lived in Las Vegas
But they were visiting the area to see his family
So they were from there, but they had moved
To Vegas and they were back
For a visit, to visit his family
Nice
So, their jaunt to the restaurant included his parents
And his two brothers
The group sat down to eat at
Two separate tables
Have you ever been to Wendy's? Do you know the franchise?
The chain? It's a basketball chain
I have heard about it, but I have never been
It's like the mascot?
What do you call the
Ronald McDonald is the clown
The symbol of them? I don't know if it's a mascot, but sure
Wendy's is the girl
That's the redhead
With the little braids
That kind of go up in a flick
Oh yes, I have seen that
So that's Wendy's
So, Anna sat
With her mother-in-law and
One of her brother-in-laws
And her husband sat at another table with his dad
And his other brother
Anna ordered a chili
For herself
And chili, should I explain what chili is?
I'm supposing a chili con carne
Chili con carne?
Yeah, a lot of it is chili con carne, but I usually make vegetarian
With beans
Only
Love chili, love it
It's basically like a bean stew
And you can add meat, any kind of meat
Essentially
It's kind of spicy, there's different levels
Of spicy
Alright, so Anna had ordered
A chili for herself, okay?
And after a few bites
She bit into something she would later describe
As crunchy, and spat it out
Oh my gosh, no, no, no
Okay, okay
She and her table companions
Began to examine the strange object
In her food, and noticed a human
Fingernail attached to it
Oh my gosh
After vomiting
She stood and walked
Around the dining area
With the item on a napkin
Telling people, quote
Don't eat the chili, look what I found in mine
Oh my gosh
Yeah
The manager came over
To see what the commotion was
And examine the strange meat, quote unquote
Like, I'm saying meat, air quotes
And confirmed that it did
Have a fingernail attached to it
Oh
Anna called the police, who then
Sat about interviewing Anna and her
Family, and the staff at the restaurant
The police took the
Strange meat and sent it over to
Be inspected by the medical examiner
Okay
It was determined to be part of a human
Finger, four centimeters
Or one and a half inches
That's pretty big
Oh man, it's like an inch you said
Yeah, it's a pretty
An inch and a half
So that's like the end of your
From your knuckle on, I guess
Pretty much the two last little knuckle
Bits
On
Let's take a break
Before we get into the rest of it
We're back
So, I'm gonna like go between
Calling her Ayala
And Anna
Through this story, okay
Well, she's a missus isn't she, she's married
Yeah, she's married at this point, yeah
So Ayala and her husband
Anna and her husband Jamie
Or Jaime, they returned to
Their home in Las Vegas and promptly
Hired an attorney, as you would
I mean, this is America after all
That's right, it's a very religious country
Famously
Wendy's Corporation were coming for you
I know right, yeah well, I mean
Clearly a get in the way with you
So, they hired the attorney
And Wendy's was then informed by
Her lawyer, obviously, that Anna
Intended to sue them
That's just shit, come on
Okay, so when
News broke about this disgusting
Discovery, Anna
Granted interviews to anyone and
Everyone who asked
And basically wouldn't shut up
About her terrible experience
I mean, I would too
She described the episode as, quote, sick
And disgusting
And claimed to be suffering from a lack of sleep
And appetite and emotional distress
I mean, I would
I think I could ever eat a chili again
Right?
Right, that would fit me up
And I love chili, I make chili at least
Once a year in the winter
With cornbread, you have to have chili with
Cornbread, that's the accompaniment
What? Interesting
Alright, I'm going to make some this winter
And I'm going to invite you over for some chili and cornbread
Because it's the bomb
So, she made
An appearance on a morning talk show
These are, you know, these morning talk shows
Where they are on for like hours at a time
In the morning, so there's like
The Today Show and the
Good Morning America and America
Blah, blah, blah, I don't know, I can't remember all the names of them
But she went on Good Morning America
And she went to
Talk about her lawsuit against Wendy's
When she was asked
What happened, she said, quote
Well, while I
Was eating my chili and
I usually crack all my
Crackers and just put
Put them in there
Mix it all around
And started eating, eating
And eating, the way people
Usually eat
And suddenly I chew something that's kind of
Hard, crunchy, spit it out
At first I wasn't
Sure what it was, and as we started
Investigating, poking it
Other people too
That's when we find that
There's something that looks like a nail
End quote
Oh my gosh, yeah, pretty horrible
I don't know if this is very
Mom safe, it depends what kind of moms we have
It's mom safe, for sure
And my mom for sure
I think remembers this story
I'll have to ask her next time I talk to her
Okay, so obviously
The public was horrified
By the story and it was all over the news
Right?
Because I mean, this is a great story
Right? For the news cycle
It's a classic, yeah
What? A finger in chili?
Bash and Carp America
Yeah
So, you know, also it brought back memories
To everybody of the Ecolibrary
Outbreak in 1992
In when, is what you mean?
At Jack in the Box
Have you heard of Jack in the Box?
I have heard about it
So yeah, at Jack in the Box restaurants
In 1992 there was an Ecolibrary Outbreak
And this sickened many people
And it even caused some deaths
So over 700 people were affected by this
And then
So 700 people were affected by it
Before they discovered that the source
Came from the hamburger patties
That were purchased
By the restaurant
In California and the Pacific Northwest
So specifically that area
Your hot and ground
In my neck of the woods, yeah
So I remember this story
When this happened, yeah
Because I was in high school at the time
When this happened
So Jack in the Box as a result
Suffered huge revenue losses
And this time around it wouldn't be any different
For Wendy's
So people in general stopped eating out
And Wendy's restaurant
In particular saw so much of their business
Plummeting that across the country
Their staff lost hours
You know, work hours
And then their jobs
Eventually
So this potentially
Multi-million dollar lawsuit
On their hands
Wendy's Corporation began an investigation
Of their own
Oh, man
So the police obviously
Were interested in finding out where this finger
Had come from
Sure, there is DNA, well it is 1992
Oh, no, what was it? 2005 you said it was?
2005, yeah
So DNA should be around
92 was the equal I think
Yeah, this is 2005
So what began
Is like a public health investigation
It later turned into like
A criminal forensic
Investigation
For their part
Wendy's had hired their own team of private
Investigators and forensic
Experts to test and verify the integrity
Of their food supply and processing
To counter
Ayaala's claim
Sounds great
So both investigations
Determined that the finger didn't belong to any
Of the employees at the restaurant
It also didn't belong to anyone tasked
With the packaging or processing of the
Ingredients that went into the making
Of Wendy's chili
All across their food supply chain
Right
And the finger, although it was found
To be cooked
Determined to have not been cooked in any
Chili at any Wendy's restaurant
Why? Because
They had a very specific method for
Perfecting their recipe
Their chili was always cooked at 170
Degrees for 3 hours
Always
So really well cooked
Well and
I studied this when I was studying
Communication in university
And it's called like the
McDonaldization of things
So where you
The processes of doing things
Are so precise and standard
That the result is going to be
Exactly the same every time
For you to recognize that taste
You eat a hamburger at McDonald's in
Taiwan, it's going to taste exactly the same
As the hamburger you eat in California
Pretty much
They might have different things on the menu
To suit the local
Like I remember in Turkey
When we were in Turkey they had
Kebabs on the menu
We didn't go to McDonald's but we just saw
They had kebabs
That's cute, well resisted
Well resisted
I actually haven't eaten at McDonald's in like
Over 30 years probably
Oh I've eaten at McDonald's
I mean you know like the last time
I guess, I don't know if it was the last time
But in Taiwan
It was so hot and humid
We'd go in to just sit there for like
An hour and have an ice cream when they are con
In a nice bathroom
In the middle of downtown
We did that too when we were in Mexico
That's right, when we were in Mexico and Guatemala
Traveling around, we went to McDonald's
To have a McFlurry which is the
Milkshake thing
Because we were like oh my god a milkshake
Because you know they don't
Sit in the cold air con
An ice cream dessert
And they generally
Have reasonable bathrooms
It's a public service
They do serve a purpose
The trip, I was
1998 was
The time I most stayed at McDonald's
Me and my dad went to Russia
And it was 1998
So not very long after
You know the end of communism
It was like about 10 years later
I heard a story about Russia introducing
When McDonald's went in to Russia
For many years it was the
Most selling McDonald's for like a decade or more
Maybe two decades
It was like the most
Customers served
The biggest number of burgers
All those things, they had their record in
Moscow
But because of that, like not because of that
I don't know, like you know it's a crazy market
Russia, but there were almost no
Restaurants in the whole of the capital
City of Moscow
So we had to keep going to McDonald's
Because it's like the only thing that we saw
There was somewhere to eat, yeah
Out of the house, yeah
So we went to McDonald's a lot that time
So
Back to the matter at hand
Back to the story
No pun intended
So anyway
It was determined that this finger
Had not been cooked at this temperature
For this period of time
So that's what they could determine
It's easy to do
Police interviews revealed that two of the three relatives
Who were with her on that day claimed she had vomited
After the discovery of the finger
Two out of three, okay
But then when they went back and re-interviewed
Her mother-in-law and father-in-law
They both admitted that they hadn't actually
Witnessed her vomit
And then in
One source I read that her father-in-law
Vomited
After the discovery
I mean I would have probably
And then investigators could
Find no signs that anyone had
Vomited at the restaurant on that day
And that employees assured them that they
Hadn't cleaned up anything
They'd never cleaned up any vomit
And none of the family members that
Accompanied her saw her with the finger
In her mouth and had only noticed
It when she pointed it out at the bottom of her
Chili bowl saying that she'd just spit
It out. So police start to look more
Closely at the woman at the center
Of this event
They began to suspect that Anna Ayala
Was attempting to pull off a rather
Macabre case of insurance fraud
Oh man
Wow. So in an effort to
Find the owner of the finger, police were said
To have heard rumors about a recent
Passing of one of Ayala's aunts
Oh. But Anna denied
That any, she had any
Like recently deceased relatives
It's a hard thing to deny
Right. Something you could prove
Yes or no? This happened or not?
I've done my family tree
I have relatives dying every week
I've got hundreds of
Cousins everywhere. Sorry, I can do
Lipses. Thank you for this
And being born, I mean I'm getting
Married. It's just big families
That's what happens. That's what happens. People die
So what police did discover
Is that she had
A penchant for filing lawsuits
Against establishments
Big corporate, yeah. That's another easy one to check
Oh man. And they would soon
Find out that she was someone whose word
Could not be trusted
Bum bum bum
Should we take a break before we continue?
I want to be slightly
Culturalist and say she don't
Sound too Basque
Because the Basques
Are very proud of their word
You know that, don't you?
Well, I think there's a lot of cultures
That would say that. I agree
But it is still a fact
Don't the Italian
Mafiosos say the same thing?
Totally. I mean I believe
The word of an Italian mafioso
I don't know about you
I think I dig in for their word
I will kill you and your family
I mean even
I will protect you or your family
You know, nice ones as well
That's what came to mind
We're having a break in any case
Yeah, let's take a break
We're back
Okay so
A look into her past revealed that several civil claims involving both herself or her
children, 13 in total, had occurred in both California and Nevada.
So here's her history.
A little bit of it.
It's not all of it.
I'm not going to name 13.
So in 1998, she filed a sexual harassment suit against her employer, La Oferta, and
review a newspaper.
And it was later dropped.
In 2004, she claimed that the restaurant El Pollo Loco had settled with her for $30,000
after her daughter picked up a nasty case of salmonella after eating there.
$30,000 is a nice one.
But when police spoke with the chain, they acknowledged the lawsuit had happened, but
they hadn't paid her a dime as the claim couldn't be substantiated.
She was telling people that she'd won $30,000 or she had won this in the lawsuit.
It's a weird one.
Yeah.
Also in 2004, Ayala filed a suit against the Goodyear Tire Corporation and General Motors
Corporation.
She's going for them all.
Going for them.
I like her.
Somewhat.
Gumsher.
At least she's going for like big corporate.
Okay, so anyway, she had a suit against Goodyear Tire Corporation and General Motors, claiming
that a tire had come off her car while driving.
And that lawsuit was dismissed because she fired her attorney.
Then she didn't show up for her court dates or file the proper paperwork.
So the lesson there is don't fire your attorney because they're the ones that take care of
all that shit for you.
I'm hoping they do.
Some doubts.
Yeah.
San Jose police soon discovered a more despicable act of fraud and theft in Anna's past when
they uncovered a police report that was filed in 2003 in San Jose.
So this report was from a woman by the name of Bertha Davila.
Davila.
Davila?
Davila.
I don't know where the accent would be.
It didn't have an accent on her name, so I don't know where the accent would be.
So in September of 2002, Bertha, Bertha Davila, she agreed to purchase a mobile home in San
Jose from Anna Ayala for $52,000.
So Bertha's first language is Spanish.
And so to complete the transaction, Anna accompanied Bertha to the real estate office to file the
paperwork that was necessary for the sale and then was going to stand in as her translator.
Right?
So in addition, Davila had no credit history or social security number, which would turn
out to complicate the matter.
So the real estate agent informed Ayala that Davila didn't qualify for the purchase because
of her lack of credit history and social security number and therefore couldn't buy the mobile
home.
Something that Ayala conveniently left out in her translation to Bertha.
Oh, man.
So the agent gave the pair some paperwork for a sale by owner transaction.
Okay?
Davila filled out the paperwork and then returned it to Anna, who agreed to bring it back to
the real estate agent and, you know, to continue the transaction.
Right?
And she gave her $11,000 as a down payment.
So this was, you know, all her savings, basically all the money she had in the world.
So believing that everything had been done to complete the transaction of the sale and
the purchase of the home, Bertha moved into the home with her family in October of 2002.
Three weeks later, she received an eviction notice from the bank, giving her three days
to vacate.
The owner of the home had defaulted on their loan and the owner wasn't Anna Ayala.
Oh, she was pretending it was her.
Oh, man.
It was her now husband, but then boyfriend's property.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, the plot thickens again.
Jamie.
Jaime.
Oh, it was Jaime.
So Bertha had no choice but to leave the house and was now broke, like having given Anna
everything she had in the world.
Right?
Fucking hell.
So Bertha could not contact Ayala as Ayala had left with her husband and moved to Las
Vegas at this point.
Yeah.
Okay.
So but Bertha didn't give up and she found out a year later where she lived and went
to confront Anna about the money.
Right?
Where's my $11,000?
And Anna acted like she had no idea what she was talking about.
And of course, she never returned any of her money.
And so poor Bertha, you know, her only recourse was to go file a police report with the San
Jose police for grand theft.
So grand theft, I looked up, I was trying to figure out the differences between these
crimes.
Grand theft is a specific intent crime, meaning that the person taking the property must have
had the exact intent of depriving the victim of property or stealing.
So meaning she meant to steal money from her.
Intentional theft, let's call it.
So when San Jose police showed up at Anna Ayala's house in Vegas on April 14th to interview
her about this whole Wendy's thing, she refused to cooperate with them.
She would complain to the media and anyone else who would listen, because she really
liked the media, that they were harassing her family and treating them like quote terrorists.
Oh yeah, it was post 9-11, so now we can say we're terrorists.
Sorry.
Oh my goggles.
So a search warrant was issued, but I couldn't find what they found.
That never was reported, I guess, what they found or if they found anything.
Meanwhile, post finger incident, Wendy's was struggling with damage control, right?
At the time, they were the US's third largest fast food chain.
They claimed that sales were down by a million dollars a day since the story broke.
They gave a press conference in April and implemented a PR campaign offering a free
frosty to anyone in the Bay Area, which they later expanded to the nation.
So frosty is like a chocolate shake thing.
It's like their little specialty.
It's like a very particular flavor.
It's a chocolate shake basically.
Nice, sounds fun.
It is good.
They're good.
I like a frosty.
So on April 21st, Las Vegas police, because they were involved because she lived there,
they arrested her for the San Jose police and they charged Ana Ayala with a felony attempted
grand larceny for the fraudulent claim against Wendy's and grand theft for the scam that
she committed against Davila.
Oh good.
So she got arrested for both things.
Nice.
I'm happy Davila is getting something.
Grand larceny, which is what they charged her for the Wendy's thing, is a crime defined
as larceny of property worth more than the given state's statutory requirement.
Wow.
What does that mean?
Okay.
So the minimum property value for grand larceny often ranges between a hundred and a thousand
dollars.
For example, in New York, a person is guilty of grand larceny when they steal property
at a value greater than $1,000.
So because she was trying to steal money from Wendy's in a larger sum, like suing for whatever
amount she decided, X amount, it was grand larceny.
The $11,000 sounds like also over that amount.
True.
Yeah.
But she was charged with grand theft for that one, meaning that she intended to steal the
money.
Let's say she, oh, okay.
So the one is she intended.
And then grand larceny is more like the amount, the money amount.
It has more to do with like the value of what was stolen.
So grand larceny was more about the value that was stolen, whereas grand theft is like,
did they intend to steal this property or whatever?
Okay.
So at the time, her son, whose name is Guadalupe.
Wow.
I like his.
Guadalupe Reyes Jr.
He denied the charges and told reporters at the scene.
Because of course, it was a big story.
There were reporters on the scene when she was arrested in Las Vegas that she didn't,
quote, she didn't steal any money in connection with the trailer.
That was his quote to reporters.
So she was being held in, I think she was extradited at this point back to California,
because that's where her trial and everything took place.
Because it was all took place in California.
So they took her from Vegas to California.
Interesting.
So while in jail, she was held on a $500,000 bail, which is half a mil.
Good chunk.
Her husband, Placencia or Jaime or Jamie, he was also charged.
But according to one source, okay, so according to one source, this is something I found,
but I can't, I couldn't substantiate it, but it was from the New York Times.
Right.
Well, yeah, I mean.
You'd think they'd have grid fact checkers.
But this is weird because this is why I'm doubting this report claim is that he was
already in custody for being in arrears for child support.
Right.
He could have had another kid with somebody else.
Right.
But to, to $400,000, like.
That's a lot of money.
That is a lot of money.
Could be like five kids though.
I guess.
For like 10 years.
Could be.
That's true.
I mean.
I mean, they have children all over the place.
Tons of children.
That's true.
Anyway, so that's.
Jamie, Jamie.
Oh, Jamie.
So, so they get arrested.
They are like, no, this is not cool.
They found that the finger didn't, never came from Wendy's, never came from any processing
plant.
So they're suspect.
They think she's just trying to rip off the company.
Right.
Sounds like it.
But.
They arrested her in April.
Right.
But they still don't know where the finger came from, which brings me to the next part
of the story.
So in early May, 2005, so she's already been arrested.
She's in jail.
The police announced that they had found the person to whom the finger had once been attached.
Okay.
Police followed up an anonymous tip received on the hotline that was set up by Wendy's.
Oh man, this is interesting.
Life is more random.
I know, right?
Stranger than fiction, right?
That's the word.
So the restaurant chain was offering up to a hundred thousand dollars for information
leading to the origin of the finger.
That's a juicy amount of money.
Yeah.
So they got this tip.
So the tip led police to a, to Brian Paul Rossiter.
It turns out that Mr. Rossiter had lost a finger in an industrial accident at an asphalt
company in December of 2004.
Okay.
So he has, he's only been identified like in all the reports that I read as an associate
of Jamie placencia.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yep.
So it's your friend of the husband.
That's her husband.
Yeah.
So he,
Oh look, I got a little pity finger of mine.
What should I do with it?
I'll take that off of you.
So he did, he sold his finger to the couple for a hundred dollars in order to settle a
debt.
And in one account, I read that the debt was only like a $50 debt.
So he sold it to them for a hundred.
So he made 50 bucks, I guess.
America.
Land of opportunity.
You lose a finger, you get a hundred bucks.
Sell it, sell it.
Mark it up, sell it on, mark it up, sell it on.
I thought that was worth way more than a hundred.
So DNA testing verified that it did belong to Rossiter and the anonymous tip came from
him.
Himself.
Yep.
Oh my God.
He's the one that called it in.
Right.
And now, well, that, that finger turned out to be a very good investment.
Right.
If you got a hundred thousand plus a hundred dollars.
No, a hundred.
Oh yeah.
For Wendy's.
Wendy's paid him.
I didn't see if Wendy ever paid him for the tip.
I didn't see that.
It never was in any of the, in the news reports.
I mean, it's dodgy that anybody else announces it, but if it's the person who lost his finger,
you would have thought he'd get the money because there's no way out of it.
It's like, Hey, the DNA was right.
You wouldn't have known otherwise.
You discover who it is.
You wouldn't have known.
There's no way you would find out.
And he didn't do anything against Wendy's.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
So police actually, that's the next, like police couldn't verify him if he was in on
the scam.
Right.
Also.
Right.
So they, you know, like if he planned to cash in on the settlement, they would get.
Probably not.
Let's be honest.
But maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe not after he turned himself into Wendy's.
Right.
So why give yourself up?
Right.
Because she thought it was more of a sure thing.
Yeah.
But this is after she got arrested.
Yeah.
By the time they were arrested, he's like, this is not going to work.
Yeah.
They're not going to get any money out of Wendy's.
So maybe I'll try to get this hundred grand from Wendy's.
So he just turned on their previous associates.
Yes.
Gosh, this is, there's layers here.
So on September 9th, 2005 in San Jose, California, Ayala and Placencia, they pled guilty to
conspiring to file a false claim and attempted grand theft with damages suffered by Wendy's
in just the Bay area, exceeding $2.5 million.
Yeah.
They pled guilty.
So at sentencing on January 18th, so this is in 2006 now, Ayala received nine years
in state prison and Placencia got 12 years and four months.
So I don't know why he got so much time.
I mean, more than him being because he knew the guy that had the finger.
I don't know.
Yeah.
I mean, the, maybe he was more involved with the trailer park.
Yeah.
Well, maybe it has to do with that.
Yeah.
Like an extra three years for the trailer park.
Maybe.
Yeah.
Could be.
Yeah.
Um, and then they were also sentenced to pay Wendy's $21 million in restitution.
So sure.
The corporation knew they'd never see this kind of money from them.
So they agreed to seek only $170,000.
US American.
Yeah.
And this was just to make up for the employees lost wages.
I mean, it's not going to, so apparently that was the number that came up with the people
that lost hours at work cause there was less business and or lost their jobs.
Must be more than that, but sure.
Well, they don't pay people very well.
It's minimum wage.
These are minimum wage jobs.
It's like an enormous third biggest chain in America.
Yeah.
Exactly.
If that's all they're losing.
If that's it.
Less than $200,000.
Cheap to run that business, Julie.
Let's get into tacos.
We gotta buy a Wendy's.
Make this happen.
So anyway, they, um, they further agreed not to pursue the 21 million if the couple didn't
seek a book or movie deal from the notoriety of the case.
That was in the clause.
Like they can't ever sell the story.
It's definitely a California clause.
I love it.
Okay, so, um, I, I had an additional five years tacked onto her sentence because the
prosecutor argued that when she claimed she couldn't eat or sleep after the event, this
had a direct impact on Wendy's sales.
The judge agreed with the prosecutor and gave her the additional five years.
However, on appeal, so she appealed this, her lawyers argued that this wasn't legal.
It's a bit of an odd one.
Yeah.
It was just like kind of random.
Like, yes, of course.
Yes.
But she had five more years.
And so she won her appeal.
Good.
So it reduced her sentence and, and she only served a total of five years.
Okay.
So post verdict when she was sentenced and everything, she had a lot to say.
She lectured folks that others should learn from her mistakes.
Quote, let this be an example.
Everybody out there, all those young people learn from this.
However, she wasn't shy about, oh, that was an quote.
However, she wasn't shy about throwing Brian Paul Rossiter under the bus.
Of him, she claimed that he was much more involved in the plot to rip off Wendy's.
She's getting revenge.
Quote, he got away.
He's a hero.
I said, quote, he should be back here with us.
Rossiter for his part was never discovered to have plotted with the couple.
And he told police that the couple had offered him 2,500, no, $250,000 for his silence.
So I'm assuming they were like, shut up when we get all this money from Wendy's, we'll
pay you $250,000.
So he was offered that by them.
Well, they up the offer from Wendy's.
So there were at least, you know, pulling the right cards.
When she was asked if she was surprised that the court had given her the maximum sentence,
she said, quote, I was expecting it.
Obviously I committed a crime and I should pay for it and I'm ready.
I know I've heard a lot of people.
End quote.
She said she didn't plan to target Wendy's specifically, but this was contradicted after
her release from prison when she granted an interview on TV.
She said, I cooked it.
That's what they want to hear on American TV.
Totally.
So she detailed how she cooked it in her Las Vegas home by following Wendy's chili recipe.
Oh, wow.
But it didn't reach the right temperature.
Exactly.
Her undoing was that she didn't realize what the temperature would be or for how long the
restaurant cooked their chili.
Yeah.
She continued.
Good preparation though.
Yeah, she could.
Yeah, I know, right?
She thought it out.
She thought she had it all worked out.
Basco's following recipes.
She thought she had it all worked out, yeah.
She continued and admitted that after cooking the finger, she stuck it in the freezer before
heading off to Mexico for a vacation.
Oh my gosh.
I mean, I guess it would freeze their chili.
Well, you got to save it for later for that next time you're at a Wendy's.
Oh man.
So anyway, in my research, I couldn't find that if Bertha Davila ever got any money from
this, like if she ever got her 11 grand back or more for all the trouble she had gone through,
like she went and moved in and then got kicked out and then was homeless, right?
Yeah.
Tough life.
I hope so, but I couldn't find anywhere that she got anything out of this.
That's such a shame.
I know, even though they were charged with this crime too.
So should we take a break?
Let's do this.
Okay, we're back.
Anna did not stay out of the news post release from prison.
Yeah, she's already given one interview.
So remember her son who defended her to the reporters?
Guadalupe.
Yes, that's right.
My favorite, probably first name in the whole episode series so far.
Which is like the Virgin, a Virgin Saint like in Mexico, right?
In a number of places.
I know there's one in Mexico.
But I always see it more in Mexican culture.
For sure.
Oh, you have Mexican heritage.
I'm sure I've seen other Guadalupe's.
So this is what happened, okay?
So in 2013, Guadalupe Reyes Jr.
Oh, he's learned some tricks from mom and dad.
Did I already say he shot himself in the ankle?
What?
No.
Oh my gosh.
So in 2013 he shot himself in the ankle.
Shot himself.
I mean, let's hope this is on purpose.
It literally turned out to be on purpose.
It wasn't on purpose.
This was an accident.
It was an accident.
Did he sue the gun company?
No, he did not.
What?
But this is a problem for him because he wasn't supposed to be in possession of a firearm
because he was on parole from a burglary conviction.
It's getting complicated.
So he went to mommy, Anna.
She can solve every problem.
Anna the Scamma.
Oh, you thought about that yourself.
I did.
I wrote it down.
Anna the Scamma.
And she cooked up a little story for him to get out of this one, okay?
I like the double entendre there.
Yeah, I know, right?
No pun intended.
So they concocted a story for the police of an alleged attack on him.
So they gave a full description of the attacker that Anna provided to the police.
They described the assailant to police as a big man with a goatee and unusually large
ears.
Oh my gosh.
Hilarious.
Goatee, large ears.
Sounds like one of her.
And he was wearing a black Oakland A's baseball cap and Air Jordan sneakers.
So that was her description to police.
So precise.
She even gave them a name.
Oh.
So the name of the person, right?
Yeah.
So searching for this man and turning up nothing, they decided to call Reyes or Guadalupe in
for questioning and he cracked like immediately.
Oh my gosh.
And he gave his mom up.
Oh my gosh.
That's a crap.
You didn't learn anything from your parents.
Mom was probably really disappointed in him.
God damn it.
So they were both arrested for this, for filing a false police report.
Make her win that one.
That's what she's saying.
Yeah.
So they were both arrested and they received two years in prison each.
So Ayala could have received four years and eight months for her part because she was
an accessory to a felony.
She filed a false police report and for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
So she got charged as well for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
And that's because she helped her son get rid of the gun that he had shot himself with
and they never found the gun.
So sure.
Her sentence was reduced to the two years because she pled no contest.
Remember we talked about that in the Irene Garza case?
Refreshed.
Which is just like that you have enough evidence against me.
I can't fight this charges.
So I'll just plead no contest.
You're not pleading guilty, but you're just pleading like I can't compete or I can't fight
it basically.
I don't get lost sometimes.
So you'll get like a lower, if you, if you kind of like concede to the crime in a way,
you'll get a lower sentence.
Dodgy.
Well, it's the legal system.
So yeah, so that's the last time she was in the news.
And according to that podcast I told you about, Once Upon a Crime, she mentioned that on her
Facebook page, NIL's current Facebook page, she has in her description, quote, crazy,
crazy finger lady.
That's like a descriptor.
Oh my gosh.
Only in America.
I tried to look for it, but there's too many Anna Ayala's out there, I guess.
So I gave up cause I was like, I gotta finish this story.
I gotta get to the end.
So I wanted to finish this story about an article I found on NPR.
Connected to the story?
It's all about a history of human fingers found in fast food.
So a Michigan teen says he got a taste of more than just roast beef when he bit into
his Arby's sandwich last week.
So Arby's is another chain that has like, they're famous for the roast beef sandwich
that they have.
My overall lesson so far is don't eat in American fast food, but let's go, let's go.
Well, I know when you've got it.
At least we started raving about McDonald's.
In Russia.
Alright, so this kid, he was a 14 year old, Brian Hart, 14.
So the caption under his photo is, Ryan Hart, 14, found a severed finger in his junior roast
beef sandwich.
Junior roast beef sandwich.
So the one for the little guys.
So here's his quote, I was about to puke.
It was just nasty.
The piece appeared to be the back of a finger, including the pad and extending beyond the
first knuckle.
They don't have a lot of detail where it came from.
We've philosophized about it enough.
They just said that the franchise restaurant team stopped food production and thoroughly
cleaned and sanitized the restaurant.
Less intense than Wendy's.
Then, again, at another Arby's.
So Arby's is just rife with fingers flying around.
So much like in Ohio, much like in Michigan, Ohio, another man bit into his Arby's sandwich
in 2004.
And he found a piece of flesh about three fourths of an inch long.
And when they spoke with the manager, they saw a bandage on his thumb.
Turns out he had sliced his thumb skin while shredding lettuce that reportedly didn't throw
away the bin of lettuce.
So it was a chunk of his thumb.
Then it was an easy crime to discover.
Then, of course, they mentioned the Wendy's.
This one.
Right.
Then the there was a finger in a custard.
Okay.
So custard is like a sweet thing.
And it's much more.
This was found in North Carolina.
So Kohl's frozen custard.
Okay.
So Clarence Stowers found a finger in his custard at Kohl's frozen custard in Wilmington,
North Carolina.
But not before eating all of the ice cream off the finger first.
Oh my gosh.
To be fair, it was frozen.
So it's less disgusting.
But oh.
Is it though?
Oh my gosh.
He reportedly thought it was candy and didn't realize it was a human appendage until later.
No.
So it says, turns out a worker had lost part of his finger in the custard machine at Stowers
and was unfortunate and Stowers was unfortunate enough to find it.
Later.
Later Stowers kept the finger for evidence for so long that it was too late for the employee
to get his finger reattached.
So he like he held on to it.
And then if he had turned it in, I guess immediately the guy could have maybe got it put back on.
I mean still.
Okay.
That's too much.
That's two more.
Okay.
So this is the frozen dinner finger.
So it seems this is this one starts with.
It seems 2005 was a big year for finding severed fingers in food.
So a California inmate, Felipe Rocha was eating dinner in March 2005.
Rocha.
He's eating in March of 2005 when he chewed a crunchy object in his cornbread.
I mentioned cornbread earlier.
We did.
Look at these circles.
He discovered a fingertip.
I'm gonna unless you lose a finger Julie, I will try your cornbread.
Yes, and he filed a lawsuit and the inmate's attorney said Rocha or Rocha or Rocha is a
vegetarian and lost 15 pounds in six days because he couldn't eat after the incident.
And then the last one.
This is the last one.
Okay.
So in 2006 in Indiana, a diner found a finger on his TGI Friday's burger after a restaurant
employee accidentally cut it in the kitchen.
The manager didn't even know what had happened until he got to the hospital.
So he cut it and then put it in a burger and then the manager was not informed.
Sounds like.
So there you go.
A brief history of finger food.
So um, Dougal, do you have a mini crime time for us tonight?
I do.
I mean, crimes are crimes and it's mini.
So here's an example of a mini crime time that you can send in to us.
Yeah.
Voice message, an email if you want to write it out.
If it's somebody else's story, just tell us about it.
Who cares?
It can be your friend.
Who cares?
Please make it real.
You don't have to name anybody.
No, it's all good.
Just any crime.
And it's like what youth consider a crime.
It's not necessarily like legally a crime.
Yeah.
Although this one could be.
Okay.
Maybe.
I don't know.
I don't know if it could be.
I'll tell you.
I'll be the judge of that.
So we're at the tobacco store and you know, like many European countries, there's only
one place that you can buy tobacco in Spain and the best country.
It's a tobacco shop.
Ah, yes.
You have to go to a tobacco shop.
It has to be licensed tobacco shop.
Yeah.
So we get our snooze for all of those who know.
What is snooze?
The Norwegians and the Scandinavians.
Yeah, like it's very Scandinavian, right?
Yeah.
So it's like a little, a little pillow.
Like a.
Yeah.
Two centimeters by one centimeter.
So let's say half an inch by.
Like a tea bag.
Yeah.
A little tea bag with.
Like a little tea bag with.
The tobacco inside.
Chewing tobacco.
Yeah.
And then.
I remember my Swedish classmates when I first moved here.
Exactly.
They all used snooze.
Exactly.
So I've been, I've been seeing a Norwegian guy recently and of course he likes the snooze
thing.
And so we turn around and then the next clients who are this older couple or brother and sister
or whatever they are.
They were next in queue, but we were still just kind of looking around and getting our
umbrellas whilst the other sale is happening.
And it was a fast one.
They asked for like a couple of packs of cigarettes or something and then a commotion started.
So it was kind of periphery and I didn't catch what, what the words were said.
But basically the lady behind, there was only one girl in the store.
It's quite a big store.
Like, you know.
Like working.
Yeah.
There's only this.
So lady working.
Yeah.
And she was Brazilian because I recognize the accent.
Okay.
And let's say she had a broken Castilian.
So it sounded very Portuguese.
Or just obviously not from here.
Accent.
Exactly.
So Mr. Old Guy who bought the tobacco.
Here we go.
Let's say not very much under his breath complained about her accent.
Something like, I have to stand these fucking foreigners serving me.
I don't know what the fuck they're saying or something like that.
You know, to that extent.
I didn't hear what you said, but she was like, excuse me.
You have been doing this every time you come here.
Please.
Like a regular customer.
Treat me with respect.
Yeah.
And even though he deals with her all the time.
And he, he just goes, fuck you.
It's not your fucking problem.
You should learn how to speak Castilian.
I know.
And then the other lady who I don't know if it was his sister, starts protecting him.
Kind of going like, leave him alone.
It's not your freaking problem.
Like totally like going for swear words immediately.
And I, and the girl started crying.
Literally.
It was very like, and then, and then the guy I'm with starts like, what the fuck's happening?
And I just translate the basic situation and this old couple already left.
So I'm like, please wait here.
I'm going to go back and say hi to the girl.
Yeah.
And so I went back in.
Did you go talk to her in Portuguese?
I did.
I tried, but she didn't realize.
She was so nervous.
She just continued speaking in Castilian.
So I switched back to Castilian.
Just not to confuse her, but I'm like, don't worry, honey.
This happens to me all the time.
But this is unacceptable.
I think whoever your boss is, you should definitely talk to him and stop serving this person.
And she goes, yeah, cause my boss is my step mom or not step mom, sorry.
Mother-in-law, sorry.
Mother-in-law.
So she goes, no, my step.
So it's her husband that owns basically.
Pretty much.
So it's a family business.
Yeah.
So she goes, yeah, no, actually I have mentioned it to my...
That's fucked up.
But she goes, but you know, you could see from the way she was saying that she didn't
ever say, I don't want to serve him anymore.
She just told them about it.
And I'm like, I think they're going to support you if you just don't serve them because that
was not called for.
And she kind of was like, yeah, no, you're right.
I think.
Fuck that guy.
Yeah, 100% fuck that guy.
Don't buy your goddamn tobacco.
Cause it was, and especially it was one of those times where most of the tobacco shops
were open, but not them.
You know, they were the one of the few that were open.
So I'm like, you're going to fuck him if you don't serve him next time.
And you need to know.
He'll be shit out of life.
And she was like, no, you're right.
Yeah.
Cause like on Sundays when he's trying to get the pack of cigarettes.
Exactly.
Fuck that big head.
Cause everything will be closed on a Sunday.
Yeah.
So, you know, and so she kind of calmed down.
That is maddening, man.
That is super maddening.
It's horrible.
Yeah.
It's horrible.
Fuck.
So.
I hate that.
What's your verdict?
Is it a real crime?
It's more than many, I think.
But it is like, it's.
That's a hate crime.
It's probably some kind of, I don't know.
I think it's a hate crime.
Yeah.
It is.
I mean, he wasn't like trying to, I mean, hate crime.
I don't know if it would legally meet the standard of a hate crime.
It's racist, it's xenophobia.
It's totally, yeah.
That's fucked up and it should be called out in society as much as possible.
I think so.
Yeah.
Cheers, everybody.
Be responsible.
Right to us.
Bling, bling.
Send us your many crime times via, or send us any emails you want to send us.
Ask us questions.
Crimes of the Basque Lands.
Just tell us anything you want to tell us on crimesofthebasklands.gmail.com.
That's it.
We have an Instagram account and we have a website.
We do.
With little titty-bitties, everything coming together.
And we're probably going to try to work on our website a little more this coming year,
2024.
We'll probably try to up some of our game.
Hopes and projects.
We're sure, we're so sure.
Hopes and dreams.
So, yeah, thank you for listening and we bid you a goor.
Crimes of the Basque Lands is written and produced by Davos de Carvalho, Julie Garcia, and Megan
Dooley, the sound and editing for each episode by Davos de Carvalho and Megan Dooley, theme
song written by Davos de Carvalho, Julie Garcia, and Megan Dooley, sung by the choir with no
name and produced by Tom Squires.
Podcast art by Distinct Signal.
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at crimesofthebasklands.gmail.com and contact us at crimesofthebasklands.gmail.com
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Until next time, agur!