Knight Ridder Newspapers

SAN JOSE, Calif. – The couple who schemed to defraud Wendy’s restaurant chain by planting a severed human finger in a bowl of chili received nearly the maximum punishments possible Wednesday.

Santa Clara County Judge Edward Davila sentenced Anna Ayala to nine years in prison and her husband, Jaime Plascencia, to 12 years, four months behind bars.

“Greed and avarice overtook this couple, and they lost their moral compass,” he said.

Ayala was facing a maximum of nine years, eight months in prison. Plascencia could have received up to 13 years for his role in the scam and other crimes.

Plascencia, 43, and Ayala, 39, concocted a scheme to defraud Wendy’s. On March 22, she placed a finger tip into her chili and caused a commotion at the fast food chain’s restaurant in South San Jose. The case was soon known across the globe.

But it turned out the finger tip came from one of Plascencia’s co-workers, who lost it in a workplace accident in Las Vegas and sold it to Plascencia.

In September, Ayala and Plascencia pleaded guilty to two felony charges arising from the scam: conspiracy to file a false insurance claim and attempted grand theft with damages exceeding $2.5 million.

Before Davila announced his sentence, a tearful Ayala read a statement apologizing to Wendy’s, which she said was one of her family’s favorite restaurants.

“I do take responsibility for my actions and offer my most sincere apologies, especially to Wendy’s in San Jose and its employees,” Ayala said. “I’m truly sorry.”

In a prepared statement, Plascencia said he too was sorry for the harm his actions and caused.

“I am paying the ultimate price with my dignity,” he said.

In the courtroom were several Wendy’s employees, representatives from the fast-food chain’s corporate office and the owner of the Monterey Highway franchise where the fingertip was planted. Hector Pineda, who for 13 years has made the chili at that Wendy’s, said Ayala’s crime led to a cutback in his work hours and caused him personal embarrassment.

“When this happened, I got scared,” he said through a translator. “People who I thought were my friends accused me of doing things I had nothing to do with.”

Wendy’s representatives estimate the restaurant has lost more than $21 million overall as a result of the crime. The San Jose franchise owners claimed losses of almost $500,000.

Ayala and Plascencia were ordered to pay those amounts in restitution, but Wendy’s and Joseph Desmond, the owner of the Monterey Highway Wendy’s and seven others in San Jose, said they will not seek to collect the money. Ayala and Plascencia will be held responsible for about $170,000 in restitution to employees of Wendy’s for lost wages.

In addition to the felony counts in the chili case, Ayala had also pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of defrauding a San Jose woman in a mobile home sale. Plascencia also pleaded guilty for failing to pay child support, child abandonment, identity theft and fraudulent use of official documents.