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| == Mount Washington, Kentucky incident == | == Mount Washington, Kentucky incident == | ||
| The final ] in this scheme was made to a ] restaurant in ] on ], ]. The caller identified himself as a police 'officer Scott' and, speaking to assistant manager Donna Summers, described an employee whom he said was suspected of stealing a ]'s ]. Summers called 18-year-old employee Louise Ogborn to her office and told her of the suspicion. Following the instructions of the caller, Summers ordered Ogborn first to empty her pockets, and finally to remove all her ] except for an ], in an effort to find the stolen items. Again following the caller's instructions, Summers had another employee watch Ogborn when she had to leave the office to check the restaurant. The first employee she asked to do so refused, so she phoned her ] Walter Nix, asking him to come in to help her with the situation. | ]The final ] in this scheme was made to a ] restaurant in ] on ], ]. The caller identified himself as a police 'officer Scott' and, speaking to assistant manager Donna Summers, described an employee whom he said was suspected of stealing a ]'s ]. Summers called 18-year-old employee Louise Ogborn to her office and told her of the suspicion. Following the instructions of the caller, Summers ordered Ogborn first to empty her pockets, and finally to remove all her ] except for an ], in an effort to find the stolen items. Again following the caller's instructions, Summers had another employee watch Ogborn when she had to leave the office to check the restaurant. The first employee she asked to do so refused, so she phoned her ] Walter Nix, asking him to come in to help her with the situation. | ||
| According to Ogborn, after Summers passed off the phone to Nix, he continued to do as the caller told, even as the caller's requests became progressively more bizarre. A security camera recorded Nix forcing Ogborn to remove her apron, the only article of clothing she was still wearing, and to assume revealing positions. As time went on, Nix, per his instructions, began to slap her and had her perform oral sex upon him. The tape showed that Summers re-entered the office several times and dismissed her pleas for help, a statement which Summers denies. | According to Ogborn, after Summers passed off the phone to Nix, he continued to do as the caller told, even as the caller's requests became progressively more bizarre. A security camera recorded Nix forcing Ogborn to remove her apron, the only article of clothing she was still wearing, and to assume revealing positions. As time went on, Nix, per his instructions, began to slap her and had her perform oral sex upon him. The tape showed that Summers re-entered the office several times and dismissed her pleas for help, a statement which Summers denies. | ||
Revision as of 05:17, 7 December 2006
The Strip Search Prank Call Scam was a series of incidents occurring for roughly a decade before 2004. These incidents involved a man calling a restaurant, claiming to be a police detective, and convincing managers to conduct strip-searches of female employees. Reports of over 70 such occurrences in 30 U.S. states finally led to the arrest and charging of David R. Stewart, a 37-year-old Florida corrections officer.
On October 31, 2006, Stewart was acquitted of all charges stemming from that arrest, including impersonating a police officer, soliciting sodomy and soliciting sexual abuse. The incident for which he was charged took place at a Louisville, Kentucky-area McDonald's in 2004. This is the only such incident in which Stewart has been prosecuted.
Incidents prior to 2004
There are dozens of incidents believed to have been perpetrated by the same caller. Some notable cases include:
- A call to a McDonald's restaurant in Hinesville, Georgia resulted in a janitor performing a body cavity search on a 19-year old cashier.
- The manager of a Fargo, North Dakota Burger King strip-searched a 17-year-old employee as directed by the caller.
- A 17-year-old customer at a Taco Bell in Phoenix, Arizona was strip-searched by a manager receiving this kind of prank call.
Mount Washington, Kentucky incident
The final prank call in this scheme was made to a McDonald's restaurant in Mount Washington, Kentucky on April 9, 2004. The caller identified himself as a police 'officer Scott' and, speaking to assistant manager Donna Summers, described an employee whom he said was suspected of stealing a customer's purse. Summers called 18-year-old employee Louise Ogborn to her office and told her of the suspicion. Following the instructions of the caller, Summers ordered Ogborn first to empty her pockets, and finally to remove all her clothing except for an apron, in an effort to find the stolen items. Again following the caller's instructions, Summers had another employee watch Ogborn when she had to leave the office to check the restaurant. The first employee she asked to do so refused, so she phoned her fiance Walter Nix, asking him to come in to help her with the situation.
According to Ogborn, after Summers passed off the phone to Nix, he continued to do as the caller told, even as the caller's requests became progressively more bizarre. A security camera recorded Nix forcing Ogborn to remove her apron, the only article of clothing she was still wearing, and to assume revealing positions. As time went on, Nix, per his instructions, began to slap her and had her perform oral sex upon him. The tape showed that Summers re-entered the office several times and dismissed her pleas for help, a statement which Summers denies.
Eventually, Summers decided to call the store manager, whom the caller claimed to have on another phone line. She then discovered that the store manager had not spoken to any police officers, and that the call had been a hoax. A quick-thinking employee dialed *69 to determine that the caller had called from a supermarket pay phone in Panama City, Florida. Summers then called police, who arrested Nix and began an investigation to find the caller.
Investigation and aftermath
Mt. Washington police quickly realized that this was only the latest in a long line of similar incidents. They contacted police in Panama City, who managed to track down the calling card used to make the call, and video of the transaction at the Wal-Mart where it was purchased. The buyer in the video was wearing a correctional officer's uniform, and queries to the correctional department led to the identification of the buyer as David Stewart. After his arrest, Stewart was extradited to Kentucky to face charges of impersonating a police officer, and solicitation of sodomy. A jury found Stewart not guilty.
Donna Summers was fired shortly after the occurrence in her store, and sentenced to one year of probation for false imprisonment. She ended her relationship with Walter Nix, who eventually pled guilty to charges of false imprisonment, sexual misconduct, and sexual assault, and was sentenced to five years in prison. Louise Ogborn filed a $200M lawsuit against McDonald's and Summers herself for false imprisonment.
There have been no reports of similar incidents since the arrest of Stewart.
Questions about the scam
Many people who hear of these incidents wonder how someone could do these things. In the ABC News report on the Kentucky incident, psychologist Jeff Gardere said that the caller probably enjoyed manipulating people into doing whatever he wanted, no matter how outlandish. If Stewart was indeed the caller, his occupation as a correctional officer would seem to confirm the conclusions of the notorious Stanford prison experiment. He also notes that the caller was careful to select fast-food restaurants, which tend to have a "by the book" management style, because such an approach makes management less likely to know how to handle novel situations such as the caller created.
More difficult to explain is the willingness of others to go along with the caller's instructions. Of course, it is quite possible that the caller made many unsuccessful calls which were ignored and went unreported, and the few people who actually performed strip searches at the caller's behest are a small minority. If we believe the conclusions of the Milgram experiment testing the willingness of people to follow orders that harm innocent people, though, the percentage of people willing to do such things may not be so small.
See also
References
- Louisville Courier-Journal report
- ABC News report on Kentucky incident
- ABC News report on charging suspect and three incidents
- Rapid City Journal report
- Kentucky Post report
- Restaurant Shift turns into nightmare