A former Disney employee, Michael Scheuer, has been accused of hacking into software used by Disney restaurants to falsely indicate that certain food items were peanut-free, according to NBC’s Minyvonne Burke and Austin Mullen.
A federal criminal complaint filed in Florida states that Scheuer "knowingly [caused] the transmission of a program to a protected computer and intentionally caused damage without authorization." Scheuer, who worked as a menu production manager at Walt Disney World before being terminated in June for alleged misconduct, was responsible for creating and publishing menus for Disney’s entire restaurant portfolio, Burke and Mullen report.
After his termination, Scheuer allegedly continued to access the menu software from a personal device. He is accused of changing menu prices, adding profanity and making “several menu changes that threatened public health and safety,” particularly by altering allergen information. The complaint alleges that Scheuer manipulated allergen notifications to indicate that certain items were safe for people with peanut allergies when they were not. Disney identified the changes before customers viewed or ordered from the affected menus, according to NBC.
His arrest Oct. 23 followed an FBI investigation that concluded he breached the company’s software several times over the course of three months.
Scheuer denied any wrongdoing and claimed Disney was trying to frame him due to concerns surrounding the conditions of his termination, according to the complaint. His attorney, David Haas, stated, “The allegations acknowledge that no one was injured or harmed. I look forward to vigorously presenting my client’s side of the story.” Haas added that Scheuer has a “disability that he believes impacted his termination from Disney.”
Disney has not yet commented on the case.
