http://www.rochesternews.com/0605story13.html
Worker testifies to food tainting
By Michael Zeigler
Democrat and Chronicle
(Tuesday, June 5, 2001) -- As cooks prepared sandwiches at a Burger King
restaurant in Henrietta, they kept an assembly line of fast food moving
smoothly.
But when customers asked to hold the pickles or hold the lettuce -- or
requested any special order that would break the tempo -- some cooks became
upset and retaliated, a former employee said yesterday.
Testifying in the trial of Scott B. Savino, who is charged with sickening a
customer by spraying a sandwich with oven cleaner, Daniel P. Musson said he
and Savino frequently laced sandwiches with cleaning products or spit on and
"skated" on frozen meat patties that were thrown to the kitchen floor before
being flame-broiled.
Musson, who pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Savino, said he
gave little thought to their actions.
"I thought it'd be funny and it was a cool thing to do at the time," he
said.
"Were you laughing when you did this?" Musson was asked by Monroe County
Assistant District Attorney Jim Wolford.
"Yes, sir," Musson replied.
"Was the defendant?"
"Yes, sir."
"Did he say anything to you?"
"Just -- 'They're going to get a good one,' or 'You've got a good one,' or
'They're going to like this one,' " Musson said.
Savino, 20, of Henrietta is charged with second-degree assault and
first-degree tampering with a consumer product. He is accused of injuring
Monroe County Sheriff's Deputy Gamaliel "Tony" Dominguez, who became
violently ill on April 30, 2000, after eating a Whopper sandwich at the
restaurant on the New York state Thruway.
Savino could receive up to seven years in prison if convicted. Jurors might
receive the case tomorrow.
Musson, 19, of Henrietta, pleaded guilty last fall to first-degree tampering
with a consumer product. He faces a penalty ranging from six months of
weekends in jail to three years in prison when he is sentenced next week.
Musson said he pleaded guilty in an attempt to make things right.
"What I did was wrong," he said. "I believe that if you did it, 'fess up to
it."
Musson said he was spitting on special-order sandwiches before Savino began
working at the restaurant in October 1999. The tampering escalated as they
teamed up, he said.
On one occasion, Savino and Musson stuck two frozen meat patties above a
suspended ceiling for five days, then cooked and served them.
"It was flimsy," he said of his patty after it was cooked. "It had a
brownish tinge to it like freezer burn."
Musson also said Savino claimed to have urinated on a patty, but he admitted
that he didn't see it happen.
During cross-examination, Savino's lawyer, Michael J. Tallon, concentrated
on discrepancies between Musson's testimony and what he said previously to
investigators and grand jurors.
DemocratandChronicle.com - Tuesday, June 5, 2001.url
