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The New York Times was forced to issue an embarrassing correction to one of its articles after inadvertently quoting a woman who was infamously jailed after she faked finding a finger in her Wendy’s chili.
An article put out on Thursday by the outlet interviewed a range of voters, one of whom was Anna Ayala of Northern California.
Ayala was sentenced to four years in prison in 2006 for putting a severed finger in a bowl of Wendy’s chili at a restaurant in San Jose, earning her global attention, and the unfortunate nickname “Chili Finger Lady.”
In The Times’ article, Ayala was interviewed about her voting tendencies and was quoted saying she planned to vote for Donald Trump in November, despite being a Democrat.
The section later appeared to be removed from the online piece, and the newspaper issued the following correction: “The Times removed comments from one voter in an earlier version of this article after learning that the person had been convicted in an extortion scheme in which she made fraudulent claims.”
The Independent has reached out to The Times for further comment about the interview and subsequent correction.
Social media users were quick to point out the blunder, with one user pointing out that the Times had reported on Ayala’s case “multiple times.” Others made jokes.
“NY Times reports that Anna Ayala is giving Kamala Harris the finger,” wrote one user.
Another added: “Seems like Anna Ayala will he going to prison next year for voter fraud, if that convicted felon votes for...the convicted felon running for president. Thanks for the less-than-awesome journalism @nytimes, you and Ms. "Severed Chili Finger" played yourselves.”
Others were more sympathetic, with Ben Smith – editor in chief of Semafor – writing: “Honestly happens to the best of us, but this is also quite funny.”
Ayala was arrested in April 2005 after making claims she had found a severed human finger in a portion of Chili sold by the Wendy’s restaurant chain. Following a police investigation, it was determined that the body part had not come from an employee of the store.
Though early reports suggested that the finger was "fully cooked," the Santa Clara County coroner’s office initially concluded that the finger "was not consistent with an object that had been cooked in chili at 170 degrees for three hours,” The Times reported at the time.
Her claims cost the chain more than $21 million in lost revenue after seeing its reputation hurt and led to a felony charge of attempted grand larceny against her, to which she pleaded guilty in September 2005.
The finger was later discovered to belong to Brian Paul Rossiter, an associate of Ayala’s husband, who had lost it in a work accident and agreed to sell it to him to settle a $50 debt, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Ayala was sentenced to nine years in prison in January 2006 and served four years. She was also banned from all Wendy’s locations for life.
Her husband, who had supplied her with the finger, was sentenced to 12 years and four months behind bars.
Ayala was incarcerated again in 2013 after making up another story, this time telling police that her son had been shot in the ankle by two men. In actual fact her son had shot himself and Ayala lied to prevent him from going to prison as a felon in possession of a firearm.
She pleaded no contest to three felony charges and received a two-year prison term.
