BATMAN
06-02-2006, 04:10 PM
A man who stuffed a dead mouse into his Taco Bell burrito in a botched extortion attempt was sentenced Friday to 16 to 30 months in prison.
Ryan Daniel Goff, 20, pleaded guilty last month to a felony count of attempted false pretenses between $1,000 and $20,000.
Sheriff's investigators said Goff complained to a restaurant employee in January that his burrito tasted "funny."
Goff, of Traverse City, reported finding the mouse to the local health department and Taco Bell's regional manager. According to court records, he allegedly told the manager: "It won't be a good day if the media finds out about this."
But investigators said his girlfriend told them he purchased frozen mice from a pet store and put one of them in his burrito.
Goff's sentencing was just the latest in several recent cases of alleged extortion over body parts and dead animals in restaurant food.
In January, Anna Ayala, 40, was sentenced to nine years in prison for planting a severed human finger in a bowl of chili at a Wendy's restaurant in California in an extortion scheme. Her husband, Jaime Plascencia, 44, who obtained the finger from someone who lost it in an accident, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.
In April, Carla Patterson, 38, and her 22-year-old son, Ricky, were convicted of trying to extort money from the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain by claiming they found a dead mouse in a bowl of soup in Virginia. Both are awaiting sentencing.
Ryan Daniel Goff, 20, pleaded guilty last month to a felony count of attempted false pretenses between $1,000 and $20,000.
Sheriff's investigators said Goff complained to a restaurant employee in January that his burrito tasted "funny."
Goff, of Traverse City, reported finding the mouse to the local health department and Taco Bell's regional manager. According to court records, he allegedly told the manager: "It won't be a good day if the media finds out about this."
But investigators said his girlfriend told them he purchased frozen mice from a pet store and put one of them in his burrito.
Goff's sentencing was just the latest in several recent cases of alleged extortion over body parts and dead animals in restaurant food.
In January, Anna Ayala, 40, was sentenced to nine years in prison for planting a severed human finger in a bowl of chili at a Wendy's restaurant in California in an extortion scheme. Her husband, Jaime Plascencia, 44, who obtained the finger from someone who lost it in an accident, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.
In April, Carla Patterson, 38, and her 22-year-old son, Ricky, were convicted of trying to extort money from the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain by claiming they found a dead mouse in a bowl of soup in Virginia. Both are awaiting sentencing.