I donno if i agree with this, i know many people that like to go down onto wendys and eat her fur burger.

That is really excessive. Teaching him a lesson is one thing, putting him in jail is something totally different.

I think that should have been large fine...probation, and maybe a week in the Police Station jail....or community service.

This is a good step to take. Maybe it will send a good message to the rest of the workers.

I think anyone screwing around with food deserves what they get.

Of course he's going to jail. You don't mess with the "Good ol' boys" cop club. Mess with them and you're busted far worse than you normally should.

Putting something in someones food is really really bad, I think 6 months wasn't enough, it is real easy to do and hard to get caught.

I am sure the type of person who does this does many things that aren't real civilized in his life. Let him have a real lesson.

@JaideepG2002: THAT is precisely the biggest problem in our so called "justice" system. Using sentences to "send a message" or "discourage others" is SICKENING.

I hope he doesn't work in the kitchen at the jail.

Jail != prison. Which is it?

@SarcasticDwarf: Erm...isn't that the POINT of sending people to jail? To send them a message? And isn't the POINT of a possible jail sentence to send people a message to discourage them not to do it?! I mean, that's kind of the point of our entire justice system!

Six months is a bit much, imo, but still.

@frank64: A real lesson? He's going to jail.. then two years probation which is like being grounded.. which my girlfriend does to me which SUCKS.. getting a job once he leaves the slam will likely wind up being janitorial because his references from big carl about being a good bitch probably won't hold water.. oh he's learned.. he's learned a lot.. on the other hand we might have created more of deadbeat than taught him civility..

@HiPwr:

Let him screw with his fellow inmates,,, then he'll REALLY get taught a lesson! (a lesson thats also more or less, free for the taxpayers!)

If you can't do the time ... don't work in fast food?

@deadandy: Fixed!

Sounds like an appropriate sentence to me. Maybe even a bit on the light side.

I think the last thing we need is to be putting people in jail for things like this. Don't get me wrong, I think it was pretty gross. However, jail time is meant for serious offenders. This could have easily been resolved with a large fine rather than having the tax payers pay for the incarceration.

Jail time should always be a last resort when determining punishment. It seems as of late it's the first thing on law enforcements mind.

@SarcasticDwarf: This begs the questions...1) what 'system' do you propose as a replacement? and 2) what do you consider to be the purpose of a prison sentence?

@Micromegas: funny, it sounds completely overblown to me. One cop puts a hair in another cop's sandwich at work would result in either laughter or a 30-second argument. A fast-food employee puts a hair in a cop's sandwich and he gets 6 months in jail?

Bullshit.

Absolutely ridiculous. 2 YEARS??? For a hair? Yet drunk drivers get 3 months probation..... Gimme a break. Pfft.

@Skeetz:

Does he deserve a non-janitorial job? The guy couldn't hold a fast food position without doing something morally and legally wrong.

Now imagine the shenanigans he could get into if he held a job of some importance.

Don't get me wrong.. Prison is excessive but tampering with people's food shouldn't be punished with a slap on the wrist.

@LegoMan322: I agree 100%, 6 months in jail is completely unreasonable, especially if this is a first offence (story doesn't say). I can't really think how this would warrant ANY time in jail, let alone a year (w/ 6 months suspended). Like you said, probation, community service, fines....any combination thereof would be more just than time in a state penitentiary. Just more proof that the criminal justice system badly needs reform.

@Chris Walters: As far as I can tell, it hasn't been fixed. The title says jail, and the entry says prison.

@LegoMan322: Perhaps you'd feel differently if it were your food.

@Sean Masters: Maybe I'm just squimish, but I can't imagine the horror of biting down on a burger and finding a gob of a stranger's pubic hair in my mouth. After I got done puking, I would hope that someone were around to restrain me from killing the SOB that did that to me.

@OmniZero: So here's our first "Cops are always bad and putting the wrong people in jail" post. Most likely posted by someone who detests the mere existence of cops until their car is stolen or their house broken into, then they're whining that the cops are never around. What a turd!

The saddest thing about this is that, "because it was done to a cop", the crime is more severe. Why??? The same protection should be extended to every customer/individual who is victim to this kind of disgusting behavior.

Regarding the punishment, 40hrs of community service cleaning up, assisting at homeless shelters, would've been more productive. Incarcerating for this is a bit too much and way more expensive.

@opticnrv: The purpose of a prison sentence should be to punish the individual who did it. A pretty common example of where this goes wrong is with environmental crimes in Oregon. The judges there are pretty friking ridiculous. Burn a suv and be prepared to enjoy 30 years in a maximum security facility in northern Wisconsin.

@frank64: 6 months wasn't enough?!? What would you give him, a year? 5? 10? Chop off his right hand? Six months is already way out of proportion to the offence, we shouldn't be locking people up and throwing away the key over this type of non-violent, petty, bullshit.

@Hobz: Write your state legislator and convince them to change the law so that this is a ticketable offense.

@HungryTuna: I feel ya.. I didn't mean to say that I empathize with him.. only meant to say that he WILL learn a lesson in all of this.. and let's hope that he comes out wanting to improve rather than sink further..

@SarcasticDwarf: The sentence is within the limits of the law, and the law is being enforced. Punishment is meant to discourage others.

What is sickening is getting a mouthful of pubic hair.

@HiPwr: so you fire him, or give him a few months community service. Jail time for 6 months? Please. It's a f*cking hair.

@deadandy: FTFA

Thomas Bender will spend six months in prison for tampering with a sandwich that was served to a law enforcement officer.

@Micromegas: Eh. It might be a little heavy, but the guy really went out of his way to do something stupid. He wasn't a victim of circumstance. If he'd simply done nothing, he wouldn't be sweating all the new things he's going to experience shortly. I have no sympathy.

@mizike: Tampering with food could be very, very dangerous. This wasn't, but what if it had been some chemical? Or something someone was allergic to?

@Kim Shannon: agreed

@SarcasticDwarf: And the point of a possible prison/jail stentence for whatever crime is to discourage you from doing that crime. It's like, the whole fucking premise of our justice system.

@Sean Masters: It was just hair, but it could have been something else, you know.

@Galactica: That, right there, is why victims don't participate in the criminal justice system (beyond testifying, giving impact statements, etc).

@Xerloq: @tvhargon: ok, it's fixed now

@Galactica: That someone put hair in my food? If that was the case, then send every chinese restaurant employee to jail. You are right. I think 6 months is completely reasonable for such a hanis crime.

If he behaves, he won't do six months. I'm not shedding any tears for this prick.

@nakedscience: You're right, it could have been a hand grenade, we should sentence him accordingly. Or, you know, sentence him according to the actual circumstances of the case, which involved a hair.

@nakedscience: Chemical or something that is actually harmful (dangerous, deadly) would have been a good sentence, but for putting pubes I think it was way over kill.

@mizike: Exactly.

@Hobz: law enforcement doesn't dole out the punishments, the courts do.

@LegoMan322: Well, if you find a lot of PUBIC hair in your chinese food, maybe they should be locked up a bit.

@Hobz: I'm with you if only because there's a lot of stuff I would do (possibly including some food sabotage) if it could be cleared up with a fine. Money I got. What I can't afford to do is go to jail.

@Xerloq: punishment is to enstill in the criminal what they have done wrong. A nice side bar it creates is people say "shit that could have happened to me" but that is not the point of sending people to jail.