001027 Teen Admits Contaminating Fast-Food

Rochester, NY - A former Burger King employee admitted using oven cleaner and spit to contaminate Whopper sandwiches that sickened a sheriff's deputy.

Daniel Musson, 18, also said Tuesday that an 18-year-old co-worker told him she urinated on a Whopper.

Musson pleaded guilty to a felony charge of first-degree tampering with a consumer product. Sentencing is Nov. 29.

Police said he and two others contaminated food over eight months ending in late April at the New York State Thruway restaurant 12 miles southwest of Rochester.

In court, Musson admitted spraying oven cleaner on two Whoppers before Scott B. Savino broiled them. When he asked Savino, 20, if the sandwiches had been served. Savino laughed, Musson said.

Musson also said he spit on a cooked Whopper. He said Janet M. LaDuca took a Whopper into a restroom, then returned and said she had urinated on it.

All three employees were fired in May after another worker reported the tampering to a manager and the deputy suffered diarrhea and nausea.

Musson is expected to testify against LaDuca and Savino, Monroe County prosecutor James Wolford said. In exchange, he faces a sentence of six months to three years behind bars. He could have gotten up to four years.

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