A Superior Court judge in California did an important service to all restaurants and food enterprises by meting out stiff sentences to the couple who carried out the "Wendy's fingertip scam" in San Jose.

The sentence should be a significant deterrent to other devious individuals with designs to extort money based on damaging, false claims.

In the San Jose case, Anna Ayala, 40, and her husband, Jaime Plascencia, 44, were handed jail terms of nine and more than 12 years, respectively.

It was Ayala who said she bit into the digit while at the Wendy's restaurant in question. An investigation found that Plascencia obtained the fingertip from a co-worker, who lost it in an accident at the paving company where they worked.

Plascencia paid $100 for the fingertip and told the man who lost the finger what he and Ayala were plotting. The man told police later that the couple had offered him $250,000 not to reveal the scam.

Ayala and Plascencia were seeking $2.5 million in damages — the same amount of money the Dublin, Ohio-based fast-food chain estimates it lost in sales because of the bad publicity.

Dozens of workers at Wendy's Northern California franchises were laid off due to the decline in business stemming from the allegation. Unfortunately, they apparently won't benefit financially from the judge's ruling

In a tearful plea for leniency, Ayala apologized and said the scheme was "a moment of poor judgment."

Thanks to the judge, she will have nine years to reflect further on that moment.

— J.R.K.