Cops investigate food-contamination story
July 30, 1999 BY TAMARA AUDI DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Farmington Hills -- There has been no confirmation so far, but police are investigating whether a disgruntled cook deliberately contaminated food at a Farmington Hills restaurant where at least 25 people were infected with hepatitis A.
A third-hand story that the cook defecated in food at the restaurant was reported to Farmington Hills police, who have launched a criminal investigation that could land the cook, if he exists, in prison for up to 10 years.
On Monday, an employee of Roosevelt's Billiards Bar & Grill on 12 Mile, reported to a Wayne County police department a story she said she heard from a fellow employee.
She said that employee told her that a former cook had defecated into food that was served to customers to get back at his bosses "for causing him problems," said Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer.
The woman said she did not know the name of the former cook who allegedly infected the food. Farmington Hills police have spent the week trying to track down the man who told her the story, but he is apparently out of town with his sick mother.
"It's shocking that someone would do this," Dwyer said. "We are taking it very seriously, but we're not sure it's true."
Dwyer said the former cook may no longer live in Michigan. He could face a 10-year federal felony charge of food tampering. In the last two months, 10 employees have left Roosevelt's to attend college or work in the new Detroit casinos, said its co-owner, Duane Gmerek. He has provided police with their names and the names of 55 current employees.
Gmerek would not comment on the allegations. Business has dropped by more than half since the first outbreaks were reported a month ago.
"It's slow here," Gmerek said Thursday during what is normally the lunchtime rush. "I can't blame the public. All I can say is that we're concentrating on making this the safest environment in the state."
Meanwhile, more cases of hepatitis A linked to the restaurant have been reported to health officials, for a total of 25.
Symptoms of the virus include nausea, vomiting, fever, loss of appetite and exhaustion. Unlike hepatitis B and C, hepatitis A does not cause long-term liver damage and rarely results in death.
The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta lists the most common form of transmitting the virus as eating something that has touched the stool of an infected person.
Often, that occurs in Third World countries with open sewage. Imported produce from those areas can carry the virus.
"We're still not losing sight of the possibility that this could be from some food item that was already contaminated during harvesting or processing somewhere else," said Dr. Carolyn Bird, chief medical officer for the Oakland County Health Division. "But you do have those rare spectacular cases."
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