Hereford House mass food contamination detailed in court documents
FOX4 is learning more about a mass food contamination investigation at a Johnson County, Kansas restaurant.
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OLATHE, Kan. -- FOX4 is learning more about a mass food contamination investigation at a Johnson County, Kansas restaurant.
Last week, the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office filed food adulteration charges against 21-year-old Jace Christian Hanson.
Court documents obtained by FOX4 Wednesday say videos and pictures were posted online of a man believed to be Hanson.
According to court documents, on April 25, information was received from an FBI special agent regarding possible intentional food contamination ongoing at Hereford House located at 5001 Town Center Drive.
The tip was about a restaurant employee contaminating food by means such as urinating in food or rubbing food items on his genitals and posting videos online.
Court documents say through the FBI checking IP addresses, they were able to locate an associated phone number that returned to Hanson. The special agent later provided thumbnails for videos posted to a website from username "Vandalizer." The images depicted a male urinating in food contained in restaurant style bins, pressing food items against his privates and buttocks and using their feet to touch food items.
Some of the titles of videos include "pissing in the serving sauce again," "pissing on restaurant desert," "Spitting on everything in restaurant part 2" and more.
Leawood police detectives contacted a manager of Hereford House. The head chef was called to the front and provided thumbnail photographs of the videos that had been posted online. He quickly recognized one of the thumbnails to his Au Jus sauce for the restaurant.
Hanson was confirmed to be currently working by the manager and was located in the kitchen and asked to step out.
A Leawood police officer immediately looked at Hanson's shoes and noted them to be consistent with the shoes seen in at least three video thumbnails.
When officers asked if he was aware of any food contamination, Hanson stated, "I'll just be straight up, yeah."
He stated he had been in contact with male subjects online that make requests for him to make videos. Hanson stated he meets these people through apps such as Grinder, Sniffy's and Scruff. They also communicate through SnapChat, according to Hanson.
He described instances of urinating in Au Jus sauce, placing his privates on salmon and urinating in pickles, according to court documents.
Hanson estimated there have been over 20 instances where he had contaminated food at the restaurant.
He stated he had worked for Hereford House for approximately a month. The first occurrence of contamination occurred a week and a half after starting the job, court documents say. He stated at first, it was an act done because he did not enjoy the job. Although he says he had begun to enjoy the job slightly more, the acts continued.
The last known act, according to court documents, Hanson admitted was on Tuesday, April 23, where he described putting lettuce down his pants and returning it to the storage try to be served at a later time. He acknowledged that while he was not sure how much contaminated food was served to customers, he is sure that food products that he contaminated in various ways were served and consumed by unsuspecting customers.
Hanson is expected to be back in court next month.
The Hereford House restaurant released the following statement to FOX4 in response to Hanson’s charge.
“First and foremost, the safety of our customers and staff is paramount to all of us at the Hereford House.”
“The individual who was arrested was a part-time employee who worked at the restaurant for less than a month. Once authorities arrested the individual on April 25th, we immediately took all measures and steps to thoroughly clean and sanitize the kitchen in accordance with health department guidelines.”
“We are fully cooperating with all authorities in this matter.”