A trip to Disney World is supposed to be the vacation of a lifetime for families.
But one sneak change could plunge a trip into chaos.
And a fired Disney employee made this scary move to put theme park guests in danger.
Former Disney employee arrested for altering food allergy information on menus
Michael Scheuer was axed by his employer, Disney, this summer but now faces federal felony charges for hacking into Disney’s computer system to make unauthorized changes. He hacked into the software used to create the menus for restaurants.
He “threatened public health and safety” by making changes to the menus at the resort that made it seem “certain menu items were safe for individuals with peanut allergies, when in fact they could be deadly to those with peanut allergies,” according to a federal criminal complaint.
Scheuer also allegedly inserted profanity into random places on the menus and changed the prices of items.
Previously he was in charge of creating all the menus for Disney’s theme parks in Florida.
The alleged offenses occurred after Scheuer was terminated from the company. He allegedly continued to access the menu software from a personal device.
Disney stated that he caused the company at least $150,000 in damages.
No one was harmed because of the changes that Scheuer made to the allergy information on the menus.
Disney employee claims it was all a setup
Scheuer’s defense attorney David Haas alleged that his client was wrongfully terminated because of a disability.
“The criminal allegations acknowledge that no one was injured or harmed by any menu alterations. Mr. Scheuer has a disability that impacted his employment at Disney. He had a medical event that resulted in him being suspended,” Haas said.
“Disney then failed to respond to his inquiries about why he was suspended and then his suspension was inexplicably changed to a termination,” Haas continued. “Disney refused to provide a response as to why he was fired and made no accommodations for him. He subsequently filed an EEOC complaint.”
The FBI raided Scheuer’s home, and he claimed that he was being set up by Disney.
“Scheuer denied any involvement or wrongdoing in the activities described. Further, Scheuer alleged that Company A was attempting to frame him because they were worried about him and the conditions under which he was terminated,” the complaint read. “Scheuer stated that he was surprised to see the FBI but that he would not have been surprised if the Sheriff’s office came to visit him to ask him to cease and desist with sending emails that could possibly be perceived as threatening.”
Disney was hit with a wrongful death lawsuit early this year from a man whose wife died of a reaction from a peanut allergy after eating at the Raglan Road restaurant in Disney Springs in Florida.
The couple picked the restaurant because it said online that it could accommodate a peanut allergy.
But the woman’s meal was prepared with peanuts despite the staff insisting it would be compatible with her allergy.
Hiding the allergy information from guests at Disney’s theme parks could have been a catastrophe for the company.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
