An Oklahoma woman says a late-night trip to Arby’s left her with oral herpes after an employee allegedly spit into her sandwich.
Jennica Church, from Broken Bow, said she developed painful sores around her mouth and lips in the days after visiting an Arby’s drive-through on March 28.
Church told KJRH she had ordered the restaurant’s four-for-$10 sandwich deal and believed staff may have been irritated because she arrived shortly before closing time.
After picking up the food, she took the sandwiches home and shared them with her father-in-law and grandmother-in-law.
Two days later, Church said, a painful blister appeared on her lip — something she claimed she had never experienced before.
She later sought medical care and was diagnosed with HSV-1, the virus commonly associated with oral herpes.
Church said her daughter was later told by the daughter of former Arby’s manager Amanda Hendricks that Hendricks had seen Church at the restaurant and decided to spit in her sandwich.
An incident report filed by local officer Zane Mann states that surveillance footage from the Arby’s location confirmed the alleged act.
Jennica Church, recently diagnosed with herpes after consuming a sandwich that contained an employee’s spit
A painful blister appeared on Church’s lip two days after eating the Arby’s sandwich
The report, seen by the Daily Mail, said: ‘While making the order, Amanda can be seen grabbing meat from the slicer, bring it to around neck level, leaning her head down with her mouth close to the meat, and appears to spit and place the meat on one of the sandwiches and has the order sent out.’
The probable cause affidavit states that the video shows ‘the saliva leave’ Hendricks’s mouth.
After Hendricks reportedly admitted to the act in a phone call with officer Mann, a warrant for her arrest was filed and she was charged with the felony of poisoning food/medicine with intent to injure.
Along with the criminal case, Church and her family have filed a lawsuit against Hendricks claiming the incident caused anxiety, emotional distress and fear of infection, stemming from her allegedly developing herpes symptoms from the saliva.
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Church said she believes visible breakouts could even impact her work as a bartender.
‘If I go out to eat and see someone with a big thing on their face, I don’t want them serving me food,’ she said.
Dr Stuart Fischer, a former emergency room doctor and practicing internist, told the Daily Mail that it is possible to contract herpes from shared saliva, but it is rare.
He said: ‘Usually, herpes works by direct contact. It enters the body by direct contact.
Amanda Hendricks, criminally charged with poisoning food/medicine with intent to injure, a felony
Church and members of her family have filed a lawsuit against the employee, claiming it was the cause of her diagnosis
‘Normal spit in a sandwich would be digested by all the body’s enzymes, especially when you’re eating a sandwich.’
Fischer has treated the virus in multiple cases and mentioned that many people contract herpes without realizing as the symptoms can often lay dormant with no outbreaks.
‘It’s not always active,’ he said.
In the lawsuit, the burden of proof is on Church, which in Fischer’s opinion, would require that it is ‘inconceivable’ that she got it through other means.
‘A situation like this, I’ve never heard of in my life, but we live in strange times,’ Fischer said.
Court records indicate that both the criminal and civil cases remain unresolved.
The Broken Bow Arby’s refused to provide any comment to the Daily Mail at this time.
