Restaurant cooks arrested, accused of serving tainted burgers
Just what have we been being served in there — and we
aren't even cops?
10:30 PM CDT on Tuesday, October 28
By NOELLE NEWTON
KVUE News
Austin, Texas
Investigators say the Burnet, Texas police chief was a regular customer at a restaurant where cooks were giving him bad burgers.
People in Burnet say they come to Andy's Landing for the burgers. Tuesday night the parking lot was empty, aside from a few people who pulled in to see a "closed" sign.
"Usually, we eat here once a week every ten days get burgers or seafood, " customer Charlie Daniels said.
Deputies say two of the people behind that good food are now in jail. Deputies say cook Jaime Perez confessed to "rubbing buns on his buns, " spitting and even blowing his nose on Burnet Police Chief Paul Nelson's burger as another cook, James Ledesma, looked on. Both were arrested after one of Perez's friends found out and went to Nelson. Deputies believe this happened on more than one occasion.
Nelson released this statement Tuesday: "As many of you may know, there has been an incident that involved the possible contamination of my food as I was eating in a local restaurant. This is an ongoing investigation and while I cannot directly comment on the investigation, I would like the public to know that (the) city of Burnet is a great city and the people are great people. This type of behavior is not the norm here and investigators believe this to be an isolated incident that was directed solely at me. There are many great places to eat with family and friends here in Burnet and I hope citizens will not be afraid to continue to patronize their favorite restaurants.
"As for my actions, I always tell the citizens to trust in the Justice System and now it is my turn to trust in the same system. I trust and respect the investigators involved and I know that they have and will conduct an investigation with integrity.
"I want to say thank you to the citizen that came forward. Without that citizen coming forward, I might have never known that this had happen. As the Police Chief, I would like the citizens of Burnet to know, that they can always come forward with any information. We must all work together as a team to make this city safe.
"This has affected my family a great deal and I ask everyone to appreciate our need for privacy at this time."
"We've worked really hard for our reputation. It's hurtful to the restaurant, it's hurtful to the community, " Andy's Landing General Manager Tiffany Tappe said.
Tappe says she didn't know about Perez's actions until he was arrested during lunch hour on Monday. She wants to assure customers that Chief Nelson was the only target.
"He was getting his revenge for something he felt he deserved to get it for, and obviously this is not the right way to do it, " Tappe said.
Still, the customers we spoke to say it will be difficult to eat here again.
"It's revolting. If there's truth to it, it's a revolting thing, " Daniels said.
"We of course respect someone's decision not to eat here, but we hope that what has happened with this individual doesn't change their opinions about us. We still have good food, we still have good service. We still try out hardest to do everything we can to be a good restaurant, " Tappe said.
Perez and Ledesma have been charged with tampering with a consumer product, a second degree felony.
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