• by Tanya Gazdik , Yesterday

A former Disney World employee has been sentenced to three years in prison after committing computer fraud and identity theft. 

Michael Scheuer, a Florida resident, was sentenced last week in federal court and ordered to pay nearly $690,000 in restitution, mostly to Disney.

Scheuer, who worked as a menu production manager for Disney and was fired last June for misconduct, “hacked into the company’s servers to alter its restaurant menus, including falsifying allergen information and printing profane language,” according to CNN Business. “He had access to, and also used, secure internal servers for creating and publishing menus for all of the [theme park's] restaurants as part of his job at the company. However, Disney identified and removed all altered menus before they were shipped to restaurants."

Those changes also ncluded price cuts or hikes of a few dollars.

“On a drink called the ‘Giddy-Up’ — a blend of vodka, lemonade and iced tea — he lowered the price by $2, according to court records, and took two ounces off a 10-ounce filet mignon,” according to The New York Times. “In another instance, ‘shellfish was changed to ‘hellfish.’”

Scheuer was a Disney employee until June, when he was terminated by the company from his role as "menu production manager" in what he believed was an unfair manner, according to People. Soon after, he allegedly began making changes to the menus in the system.

“In some cases he would allegedly add in profanity to some menu items, changing ‘cheesy grits’ to ‘cheesy s***s’ on one menu and ‘golden tipped asam’ to ‘Golden tipped ass’ on another,” per People. 

It seems crucial that a family-forward brand like Disney steers clear of vulgarity in its menus. 

“Federal prosecutors said that Scheuer's actions became potentially fatal when he altered allergen information on restaurant menus to indicate that ‘food items were safe for customers with certain allergies, when they were not,’” according to USA Today. “He removed warnings for peanuts, tree nuts and shellfish, often substituting them simply for ‘milk,’ according to court documents.”

Disney contacted the FBI, identifying Scheuer as a possible suspect. 

In September, the FBI executed a search warrant at Scheuer’s home and seized several electronic devices, according to The New York Times. The criminal complaint also shows that Scheuer blocked 14 Disney employees from their company accounts through denial-of-service attacks. Some of the targeted workers were former colleagues involved in his firing, according to court records.