Steakhouse worker ‘contaminated food with bodily fluids for a month’ as 130 customers report sickness after eating there

A RESTAURANT cook has been charged with contaminating food and sickening dozens of people over several weeks in a shocking case unearthed by the FBI.

Prosecutors announced on Thursday that Jace Christian Hanson, 21, may receive more charges in addition to the felony count of unlawfully altering or contaminating food that he already faces.

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Anyone who ate at the Hereford House restaurant in Leawood, Kansas — about two hours northeast of Wichita — between March 26 and April 25 may have been affected, authorities said.

Several local agencies from Johnson County are working together to understand what happened and how many people were impacted.

“The scope of the problem [is what] we’re still trying to determine,” county District Attorney Steve Howe told The Kansas City Star.

“We have some information. Leawood [police] is working really hard to gather additional information.”

Investigators from the Leawood Police Department requested that restaurantgoers who fell ill during the period in question or who want more information contact their hotline at tips@leawood.org or 913-266-0696.

Over 130 people have already contacted the helpline, although not all of them reported having symptoms, police said.

“I know we’re getting calls from, as we asked, people who fell ill after eating there to try to determine if there was any connection to what Mr. Hanson did,” Howe said.

But they are still discovering new information in the investigation, he added.

“We don’t believe there are any other people involved, but we believe that the investigation will probably lead to additional charges,” he said.

SCANT DETAILS

Police arrested Hanson on April 25 and charged him with contaminating the food at Hereford House, where he worked as a part-time cook, with unspecified “bodily fluids.”

They have not given more information about the contaminate or how the suspect delivered it.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Johnson County Health Department said that the type of issues caused by the contamination included gastric distress similar to food poisoning.

Officials were alerted to the situation by an FBI tip that was redirected to local police once deemed legitimate.

“I give a lot of credit to the FBI in Leawood for moving quickly on that, as soon as they determined there was an issue,” Howe said.

“I appreciate the fact that they moved so quickly to stop it.”

Restaurant staff moved quickly to cleanse the restaurant too.

“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,” a restaurant spokesperson told Law&Crime.

WAITING FOR ANSWERS

Some locals who visited the steakhouse over the last month and have heard about the scandal said they are worried and upset that they are not getting answers fast enough.

“Oh my goodness, on a scale of 1 to 10, it’s over a 10,” one restaurant goer told The Kansas City Star about her stress level a week after Hanson was arrested.

“I do know for a fact that I ate there — I fit the timeline,” she said, noting that it had been around six hours since she first called the police and not heard back.

But officials are working as fast as they can with an unknown number of potential victims, police said.

“This is obviously a month-long period that this subject was working at the Hereford House, so there are likely thousands of people who have eaten at this particular restaurant,” Captain Brad Robbins of the Leawood Police Department told The Kansas City Star.

“Those who may have experienced some incident and have called in, it’s going to take us more than just an hour or two to get to them.”

“We’re getting back to people as quickly as we can,” added Robbins.

Hanson’s next court appearance is scheduled for 4 pm on June 6.

He is expected to remain behind bars on $100,000 bail until then.