Law&Crime Sidebar - How an Arby’s Order Turned Into an Alleged Herpes Nightmare

Episode Date: June 25, 2026

A late-night fast-food order has turned into a nightmare. An Arby's manager in Broken Bow, Oklahoma is accused of intentionally contaminating a customer's meal. The suspect, Amanda M. Hendricks, allegedly spat into the food and infected victim Jennica Church with an incurable virus. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber unpacks the devastating surveillance footage, an alleged confession, and the intense legal fallout impacting an entire family.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There's no easy way to say this, but both a criminal case and a civil case are now at the center of allegations that an Arby's worker deliberately spat in a customer's food and gave her herpes. We are breaking down the criminal investigation and this massive lawsuit. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. May I take your order, please? I'm Jesse Weber. Look, I don't know how to say this. This is a very disturbing case. This is a pretty disgusting one. If the allegations are true about all this,

I mean, my heart really goes out to the family here because this is not one you hear every day, and I really hope that, you know, you got to sit down for this one. So fair warning, this is a tough one. But I say all that because there are both criminal charges and a lawsuit in connection with a former Arby's manager in McCurtain County, Oklahoma,

accused of not just spitting in a woman's food, but also giving her herpes. Unfortunately, let's discuss this. So I'm going to break it all down with you. I want to start with the criminal case, and then I'll get into the civil case. So I want to read you directly from the probable cause affidavit for the arrest warrant for Amanda M. Hendricks. Quote, on April 1, 2026, at approximately 1630 hours, I, Zane Man, a commissioned uniform officer with City of Broken Bow, took a walk-in report referencing an Arby's worker spitting in a customer's food.

I made contact with Jenica Church, who stated on March 28, 26, Jenica had gone in the Arby's drive-thru and made an order. Genica ordered the four-for-10 sandwich meal. I was able to contact Arby's for video footage, and I was informed I would need a search warrant to obtain copies of the video. On April 10th, I was able to file and serve a search warrant on April 16th. I received a copy of footage from 2,200 hours to 2,300 hours the night of March 28th. This was on April 16th.

At 52 minutes and 57 seconds, Amanda is removing meat from the slicer. Amanda has the meat in her hands and lifts it to neck level and leans her head down, and you can see the saliva leave her mouth and go into the sandwich. Amanda continues making the other three sandwiches and sending out the order. On April 17th, I was able to contact. Amanda requesting an interview on April 18th, and she agreed to meet at the Broken Bow Police Department. On April 18th, Amanda called the police department and stated to me that she was unable to make the interview due to not having transportation. While speaking with Amanda, she made the

utterance that I have the footage, and she was not going to waste my time. Yes, she did it. And Church now claims that due to this alleged spitting incident, she has herpes. So Hendricks has now been charged with felony poisoning with intent to injure, which is my understanding. carries up to five years in prison. This is different than what the initial suspected charges were. But in this criminal case, my legal perspective is evidence seems arguably strong. Now, unless a defense attorney can get the surveillance footage thrown out by arguing that the search warrant was defective, that it was based on false information, that it contained misstatements, or that the officer lacked sufficient probable cause that a crime was committed to justify the warrant, if that doesn't happen,

if none of that works and the surveillance footage comes in and it is basically how, it's described, it's devastating. Now, I haven't seen the footage myself. Do you actually see a spitting incident? I mean, possibly based on this description, but also if you have this alleged confession, if I'm reading this correctly, that's going to be problematic too. Now, I don't know if a defense attorney will argue that, yes, she's spinning the food, but she had no intent to injure based on the statute, based on the crime, no intent to allegedly give herpes, and assuming the spitting incident did give Church herpes. That's an interesting connective tissue. I want to explore that a little bit more in the civil case section, but it does become an interesting point there, right? Knowledge. I mean,

did she have herpes and did she deliberately spit in the food knowing she had herpes? That's going to be a key component because you need that connective tissue. Now, our understanding is that Hendricks was arrested on Sunday and she was booked into the local jail. Why would 38-year-old Amanda Hendricks do this? Well, reportedly, Church said that she and Hendricks have a little history. Wasn't entirely clear what it was. Hasn't been fully explained. But Church reportedly said it was nothing major. According to Two News, Oklahoma, Church said it was taking a little bit of time,

meaning when she placed the order and she goes, I thought that they were mad at me because it was about to close, meaning the restaurant was about to close. Again, according to Two News, Oklahoma, Church claims that Hendricks had been bragging about spitting in Church's food and that Broken Bow is a small town and that even Church's daughter ended up here about it. Jennifer Church reportedly said, I love Arby's, not anymore. And here's the problem, too. She apparently shared the sandwiches that night with her father-in-law and grandmother-in-law.

Her mother-in-law reportedly saying, my son was sitting at my table eating breakfast and he wanted a kiss and he cannot get one, so you bet I'm angry. I see what it's doing to my grandchildren, my son, my husband. I don't want to kiss my husband. He ate the food because he hasn't had an outbreak. It doesn't mean he doesn't have it. So now we have the civil lawsuit. This This is a lawsuit filed by Jenica Church and her family, including her husband, including her children, and it is against Arby's of Broken Bow, Arby Arc Restaurants LLC, and Flynn Restaurant Group LP, which are defined as the entities that either owned controlled or operated that local Arby's restaurant.

And also, it's against Hendricks as well, okay? But really, the big money, you are going after the entities. That's the purpose of this lawsuit. I want to read to you the statement of facts and the complaint. And then we're going to talk about the claims, the causes of action that they're suing for. So the complaint states that on March 28th, 2026, Genica went to the drive-th throughout this local Arby's in Brokenbow, that she had just finished working a long shift. Local reporting suggests that she was bartending. She went to pick up the food, and the complaint lays out that Hendricks was an

employee. She was responsible for preparing the food. And as you'll see, that is what attaches liability to the company, right? An employee allegedly commits a tort, a wrongful act, while in the scope of their employment. And the complaint alleged that Hendricks intentionally and deliberately spit on the food. So they're saying it's not an accident, right? Nothing like that. Intentional, deliberate. Moreover, the complaint claims that Hendricks knew she had herpes. H.S.V.1. How? The complaint claims that at the time this happened, Hendricks had a herpes outbreak with visible lesions. So the idea is she allegedly contaminated the food with herpes. Complaint referenced the surveillance footage that I mentioned before as well.

But here's what allegedly happened after the food was prepared and handed over. I'm going to read you verbatim. Quote, Plaintiff Jenica Church ate one sandwich from the order as she pulled out of the parking lot. Plaintiff Jenica Church then drove home. When plaintiff Jenica Church arrived home, she shared the remaining food from the Arby's order with Plaintiff Stephen Dollar Height and his mother. Plaintiff Stephen Dollar Height consumed food from the contaminated order. Stephen Dollar Heights' mother, who was on hospice care, also consume food from the contaminated order. None of the plaintiffs who consumed the food had any knowledge that it had been contaminated with defendant Hendricks's HSV-1 infected saliva. None of the plaintiffs who consumed the food consented to consuming food contaminated with bodily fluids or HSV-1 infected saliva.

Prior to March 28, 2026, plaintiff Genica Church did not have HSV-1. Prior to the incident, Plaintiffgenica Church had never tested positive for HSV-1. Prior to the incident, Plaintiff-Genica Church, had never experienced any symptoms of HSV-1, including cold sores, lesions, or oral herpes outbreaks. Prior to the incident, Plaintiff-Genica Church had no history of HSV-1 infection. It goes on to say, quote, after consuming the contaminated food on March 28, 2026, Plaintiff-Genica Church developed symptoms of HSV-1 infection. Plaintiff-Genica Church developed a lesion or cold sore on her.

lip following consumption of the contaminated food. Plaintiffgenica Church sought medical evaluation and treatment from Dr. Heron. Plaintiff Genica Church was tested for HSV-1. Plaintiff-Genica Church tested positive for HSV-1 following the incident. The HSV-1 diagnosis was confirmed through medical testing. Plaintiff-Genica Church obtained medication from palace drugs to treat the HSV-1 infection since contracting HSV-1 from the contaminated food. Plaintiff-Genica Church has experienced multiple documented outbreaks of oral herpes. These outbreaks have included painful lesions, cold sores, and other symptoms associated with HSV-1. The outbreaks have been triggered by stress and have occurred on multiple occasions. Each outbreak causes Plaintiffgenica

Church physical pain, discomfort, visible lesions. HSV-1 is an incurable virus that will remain in Plaintiffgenic Church's body for the rest of her life. A number of things we've got to establish here. So first of all, this establishes or is trying to establish. the connection between the contaminated food and the herpes, right? Because defense counsel would attack that. How do you know you didn't get herpes from something else or someone else? This is going to be an examination of Jenica's life or lifestyle, her medical history. If she can confirm the diagnosis and the treatment, and it seems like it might be memorialized,

especially since you read this complaint, it has the detailed names and locations and the addresses of the medical providers, that is going to be a major part of this case. That's going to be a major piece of evidence to document that. Hey guys, real quick. So the weather's getting nicer, means it's time for a little spring reset on the closet. And I'll tell you, for me, it is always about quality over quantity and going for pieces that are easy for every day. But, you know, has that elevated feel that won't break the budget. And that's why I got to tell you about quince.

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running out the door. So give your summer closet an upgrade with Quince. Go to quince.com slash lawn crime for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash law and crime for free shipping and 365-day returns. But again, she's going to have to establish that she never had this in the past and that there's no other cause that applies. But also, I mean, my gosh, does this establish the harm component that's necessary in civil actions, right? I mean, one of the things you have to establish is what's your harm? What did you suffer?

What was done to you? So important for a damages calculation. And I got to say, is that going to be? be a stretch for the jury? You tell a jury that someone spat on your food and gave you herpes. I think they're going to be able to understand and appreciate the trauma of that. Now, still, there's a case that has to be proven. But in terms of the harm component, I think that's probably going to be easy to assess. No. I'll even say, herpes aside, the mere allegation of someone spitting into your food is disgusting enough to warrant probably

damages. Again, these are just allegations, but let me expand on that. The complaint reads, quote, plaintiff, Jenica Church will continue to experience periodic outbreaks of HSV-1 for the remainder of her life. Since contracting HSV-1, Plaintiff Genica Church has suffered debilitating fear and anxiety about transmitting the virus to her family members, children, and friends. Plaintiff-Genica Church lives in constant fear that she will transmit HSV-1 to her husband, Jason Dollar-Hite. Plaintiff-Geneca Church lives in constant fear that she will transmit HSV-1 to her minor children, S-JM-D and G-A-M-D. Plaintiff Genica Church lives in constant fear that she will transmit HSV-1 to other family members and friends. This fear and anxiety have taken over Plaintiff

Genica Church's life. The fear and anxiety have caused Plaintiff Genica Church to avoid physical contact with her loved ones, including kissing and hugging your children. The fear and anxiety have caused Plaintiff Jenica Church to avoid intimate contact with her husband. The fear and anxiety have severely impaired Plaintiff Genica Church's quality of life and ability to enjoy normal family relationships. The fear and anxiety have caused Plaintiff Genica Church, severe emotional distress, mental anguish, and psychological suffering. Plaintiff Jenica Church has required and will continue to require medical treatment, counseling, and therapy to address the physical and psychological effects of the HSV-1 infection. And the alleged harm suffered by Stephen is laid out as well in the

complaint. But from there, this document, this complaint claims that Patricia contacted the companies, so the defendants here, and that a rep claimed we'll review the surveillance footage. But the complaint alleges that rep never did it and didn't get back. to Patricia. Apparently, there was a follow-up contact, at least according to this complaint. And the rep allegedly lied to Patricia about watching the video and claimed the food was safe and not contaminated. The complaint alleges this was done to avoid liability, to ensure the family didn't pursue the matter legally. And furthermore, there's an allegation that the representatives called the plaintiff's home multiple times and offered limited money to not go forward

with anything, namely free sandwiches and $5. That this was allegedly reckless and intentional conduct, that it's a form of harassment. Now, one thing I'll say is how do you prove the contents of that conversation? It's not going to be a recorded conversation unless, I don't know, maybe it was on a recorded line. You know, you call somebody they call a business to say it's on a recorded line, maybe. Not sure if anything was memorialized in an email, but if it's only a phone call, there's no recording, you're probably going to have different accounts of that conversation, right? But again, you go back to the harm, you go back to what those damages are. The allegation is that they suffered severe emotional distress, anxiety, mental anguish, psychological injury,

loss of consortium. That's an interesting one that was thrown in there where you lose some benefits of a relationship because of harm occurred. I'm going to get into that a little bit more. But look, the way you get the companies on the hook, the argument is that the entities failed to inspect the food. They failed to do proper background checks. They failed to provide adequate training. They failed to discipline or fire Hendricks, that they didn't set up policies or procedures to prevent something like this from happening, contamination, alleged contamination. And that it was these failures that caused what happened. Now, yes, from a legal point of view,

if an employee deliberately contaminates a customer's food, it puts the company a tough position, for sure. Counter argument would be, look, we don't have a crystal ball. We did everything right. We followed every procedure. We had no reason to believe that she would ever do something like this, again, assuming the allegations are true.

And I imagine an argument could be that she never did this to anyone in the past. You can't prove that. Although there is a part in the complaint that says, quote, upon information and belief, defendant Hendricks has been reckless or intention in contaminating food for other guests at the Arby's restaurant. Upon information of belief, defendant Hendricks has engaged in a pattern or practice of

contaminating food served to customers. Upon information and belief, the entity defendants knew or should have known of defendant Hendricks's propensity to contaminate food and fail to take appropriate action to prevent such conduct. And there's also this part, quote, the filing of criminal charges against defendant Hendricks confirms the intentional and criminal nature of her conduct. So look, the result of a criminal. case won't necessarily have a direct impact on the civil case. Sometimes you could have a

not guilty verdict and a somewhat finding of liability in a civil case, maybe even vice versa. I say that because the standard of proof is different, right? The civil case uses a lower standard of proof. It's not beyond a reasonable doubt. It's usually a preponderance of the evidence more likely than not something happened. But nonetheless, a conviction or acquittal at trial could dictate the strategy for a defense attorney in a civil case, but it also has another component that I want to get into. So what are they suing for? Let's get into the, the counts. Let's get into the causes of action. Count one. Battery. So this is Genica Church and Stephen Dollar Haidt against Amanda Hendricks. So the argument here is that Hendricks caused

harmful or offensive contact to these people by intentionally spitting in their food. That's the allegation. You knew about the herpes. They had no knowledge of this. They had no consent. They suffered injury, emotional distress, fear outbreaks. And there's the causation element that you have in personal injury cases, that as a result of the alleged battery, Genica and Stephen have been injured or harmed. Count two. Intentional infliction of emotional distress. Again, this is Jenica Church and Stephen Dollar Hight against Amanda Hendricks. The argument here is that what Hendricks allegedly did was extreme and outrageous, that it exceeds all bounds of decency, which, by the way, you stop right there. If the allegation is true, spitting into

somebody's food, giving them herpes, I think it would classify as that. Remember, in a complaint, you don't have to prove everything. You just have to say your allegations support those counts. I would make the argument that the allegation of someone spitting in your food with herpes and you getting herpes, that can qualify for extreme and outrageous conduct and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The extreme emotional distress component is fear, anxiety over transmitting this to others, mental anguish, shock, humiliation, psychological suffering. I'll say this again, when I see this count thrown on the lawsuit, sometimes I'm skeptical. Like, it can be hard to establish that even if you accept everything is true what the plaintiff is claiming and what they say happen to

them, is that really intentional? Is that really emotional distress? Here I go back to this prior point. If all of this is true, realizing someone spat your food and gave your herpes, when you were not expecting this at all, completely changed your life? Again, I know it's an allegation, but I can see a claim like this, definitely making sense and definitely being allowed to move forward. Count three, negligence. So this is Jenica Church and Stephen Dollarheight, again against Amanda Hendricks. Negligence. Four elements.

Duty, breach, causation, harm. Argument here, Hendricks, as an employee, had a duty of care to them, a duty to use reasonable care in preparing the food, that she allegedly breached that duty. She failed to do that. What she allegedly did caused them harm, and we went over. what that harm is or what that harm is argued to be. Count four, negligence per se. So again, Jenica Church, Stephen Dollar Height against Hendricks, slightly different. This is almost automatic negligence. The argument would be that allegedly the criminal violation, that the

allegation that she violated a criminal statute means that Hendricks engaged in automatic negligence. You're automatically considered to have breached that duty. It is negligence as a matter of law. Count five, products liability, strict liability. Genica Church against all of the corporate entities. So here the argument is, is that the entities sold food products, sandwiches, and these products were defective because they were contaminated, products that were in the entity's control. It's an interesting claim, and it means strict liability is you're automatically liable if there's a problem with the product. We always think of this when there's a defective product in like an assembly line that comes out of a factory. And yes, those are cases. Something gets contaminated,

whether it's by on purpose or by negligence, what have you. I mean, the company could be on the hook. But here you're kind of dealing with the same thing, right? You're dealing with alleged contamination on kind of like an assembly line. It's the food preparation process. And the allegation is that it was done intentionally. That's the allegation. Count six, negligent infliction of emotional distress.

This is Stephen Dollar Hyde against all the defendants. Similar to what we discussed before, but the argument here is that the defendants had a duty of care to provide a customer like Stephen Dollar Hyde with food that was safe to eat, that they breached that duty, suffered emotional distress. Count seven, negligent infliction of emotional distress. This is Patricia Dollar Hyde against all the defendants. Same kind of thing. Count eight, respondeat, superior, vicarious liability. So this is all of the plaintiffs against all the corporate defendants. Now, I want to address this one. Kind of mentioned it before. It's a very important part of major lawsuits. The actions of the employee can be imputed to the employer. So here

they argue that Arby's, the company, employed Hendricks, that she allegedly committed the battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence within the course and scope of her employment. That's key. It's not like you have a person that works for a company and then after work goes to a bar and punches someone. Can't hold the company liable for that. They were not doing their job. They were not trying to fulfill their function. It was off premises.

That's not what's happened. These allegations are very different. That she allegedly contaminated the food while working at this location, at this business during business hours. So the entities would potentially be liable for the alleged actions of their employee, their agent, Hendricks. Count nine, negligent hiring, retention, supervision, and training. All plaintiffs against all the corporate defendants. Talked about this a little bit before. The entities have a duty to properly hire, retain, supervise, train their staff in food preparation and sanitation to prevent food contamination. The argument is that they didn't properly

screen Hendricks. They didn't provide her with proper safety training. they improperly enforced policies to prevent contamination. They didn't supervise her. They didn't monitor her. Count 10. Negligence. All the plaintiffs against all the corporate defendants. We already kind of talked about that one before.

Count 11. Loss of consortium. Okay. Jason Dollar High against all the defense. So the argument is Jason and Jenica are married. However, because Jenica allegedly contracted herpes, she has suffered emotionally, psychologically, and that is negatively affected. their relationship. He's lost society, companionship, affection, comfort, assistance from his wife,

physical intimacy, that he's lost the benefits of marriage. Count 12, loss of consortium again. This is one of the children, S.J.M.D. against all the defendants. So this is Jason and Jenica's child. Again, claims the loss of his mother's companionship, society, comfort, affection, that Jenica has avoided physical contact with her child because of the herpes, does not want to transmit. You have another count, the next one, count 13, loss of consortium for the other child. Count 14, loss of consortium. This is Patricia Dollar Heights against all the defendants because Patricia is married to Stephen, other family members, same idea.

And then the last count is punitive damages. This is as to all defendants for all the plaintiffs. Punitive damages, punishment damages, that the defendant's conduct was really bad, willful, wanton, reckless, malicious, justifying an award of punitive damages. This is not just about alleged spitting. It is about failing to prevent it and then allegedly making an offer so small that it would sweep the allegations under the rug. And again, looking at what Hendricks is accused of doing, again, extreme outrageous

alleged conduct and behavior. By the way, punitive damages, which in traditional cases, you know, can be quite costly. They're reserved for really, really bad outrageous conduct. They're also seeking compensatory damages. So these are damages to make you whole again. And this is for economic losses, such as medical expenses, for non-earned. economic losses like physical pain and suffering, mental anguish for loss of consortium, which we talked about before, and they're also seeking a jury trial. Now, according to Two News,

Oklahoma, Church had said, Jenica, if I go out to eat and see someone with a big thing on their face, I don't want them serving me food. Kind of goes into the idea about how our life is different now. The family attorney Will Blocker said, quote, they let it go all the way out the door. My client now has a communicable disease. That has to be a culture deeper than Arby's in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Maybe it's Flynn Restaurant Group and all 300 stores they own. I don't know, but we're going to find out. When I hear that, I wonder, is this a class action? Are you going to have more similarly situated plaintiffs who experience the same kind of thing? I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. But apparently, this outlet did reach out to Arby's for comment. They have not heard back

yet at the time of this recording. Really, really unfortunate case, to say the least. It's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. You can also check us out on NBC's Peacock as well. If you want to follow me, ex-instagram, my news nation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through Friday, 11 p.m. Eastern. See you next time, everybody.