While some might say that McDonald’s shouldn’t be handing out toys with its Happy Meals in an effort to entice the younger set, customers at a Golden Arches in New York City were apparently getting an even more controversial item with their orders: Police say the night shift manager of a Bronx location was selling drugs to customers, and hiding it inside bags of food.

According to the authorities, undercover officers investigating the alleged drug dealings in “Operation Off the Menu” say a night shift manager at a 24-hour McDonal’d franchise was using his position as a cover for conducting drug deals involving crack and cocaine.

Even though restaurant customers could only order through the drive-thru window at night, the manager allegedly gave special treatment to his drug customers, and would unlock the door and invite them inside.

Officials say the manager sold drugs to an undercover officer over the restaurant counter on two occasions, hiding the cocaine inside a cookie bag which he then put inside a larger McDonald’s order with two cheeseburgers, a soda, and fries. Other McDonald’s employees were also working at the restaurant at the time.

His last alleged transaction involved 100 grams of cocaine as well as some crack to an undercover officer for $6,520. That time, the manager allegedly sold the drugs to the officer inside the restaurant’s restroom, retrieving the cocaine from a soap dispenser. The undercover officer then took a seat at a booth, where the suspect served him a bag of food.

According to authorities, he also sold cocaine in the vicinity of the McDonald’s parking lot.

In the lead-up to his arrest this week, officials claim the manager of
making eight sales of cocaine to an undercover officer in increasingly larger quantities, amounting to nearly $10,900 worth of the drug.

A search of the manager’s home recovered 200 grams of cocaine and about $5,300 cash hidden in a dresser in a child’s play room, investigators say.

He’s now been charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminally using drug paraphernalia and unlawfully dealing with a child.

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