Woman claims she contracted herpes after former Arby's manager allegedly spat in her food
A woman is claiming that she contracted herpes after eating a sandwich from Arby's, as police investigating the case found shocking footage of the manager spitting in her food.
Arby's manager Amanda Hendricks, from Oklahoma, has been charged with felony poisoning with intent to injure, after a customer reported her food had been contaminated during a late-night visit on March 28.
Jennica Church stopped at the popular fast-food sandwich restaurant chain after a late night of bartending.
After arriving home, she ate and shared the sandwiches with her father-in-law and grandmother-in-law. But the next morning, her mouth flared up, and a doctor later diagnosed her with herpes.
Advert
Oral herpes is a common viral infection that causes cold sores to form on your lips and nearby skin. The Cleveland Clinic states that once you have an oral herpes infection, the virus sticks around for life - but for some, it may not cause frequent cold sore outbreaks.
Symptoms include a fever, swollen lymph nodes in your neck, sore throat, redness and swelling in your throat, sores along the back of your throat, and painful sores on your gums, tongue and roof of your mouth.
Oral herpes can also cause genital herpes, which is when sores from the mouth are transmitted to the genital area.
"I love Arby’s - not anymore," Church said when speaking to 2News Oklahoma.
"It was taking a little bit of time," she added about the food order. "I thought they were mad at me because it was about to close."
According to a lawsuit filed against Arby’s by Church and her family, Hendricks was allegedly aware that she had an active herpes outbreak when she spat into the customer’s food.
The affidavit also states that Broken Bow police officers pulled cameras from Arby’s and saw Hendricks spit in the food.
The family attorney, Will Blocker, said: "They let it go all the way out the door and my client now has a communicable disease.
"That has to be a culture deeper than Arby’s in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Maybe it’s Flynn Restaurant Group and all 300 stores they own. I don’t know, but we are going to find out."
The civil lawsuit against the restaurant chain alleges that they allowed Hendricks to work despite her 'active herpes outbreak with visible lesions'.
It further claims that Church now 'lives in constant fear' that she will pass on the disease to her husband or their children.
Church's mother-in-law, Patricia Dollarhite, said to 2News: "My son was sitting at my table, eating breakfast and he wanted a kiss, and he could not get one, so you bet I’m angry.
"I see what it’s doing to my grandchildren, my son, my husband. I don’t want to kiss my husband. He ate the food! Because he hasn’t had an outbreak, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have it."
The fast-food manager was arrested on Sunday (June 21) and booked into the McCurtain County Jail, Oklahoma.
UNILAD has reached out to Arby's for comment.
Topics: US News, Food and Drink, Crime, Health
Mia Williams