40-year-old Michael Scheuer, a former Disney employee, was sentenced to three years in prison on April 24.
According to a federal complaint filed in US District Court for the Middle District of Florida in October 2024, Scheuer, who had been dismissed from his job with the firm that June, allegedly used his still active passwords to access a menu creation system used by Walt Disney World’s restaurants to change the listing of foods that contained certain allergens to indicate they were safe from those allergens.
Scheuer pleaded guilty in January to knowingly transmitting a program, information, code, and command and intentionally causing damage without authorization to a protected computer, and aggravated identity theft.
Federal prosecutors said in a statement:
These intrusions included manipulating allergen information in restaurant menus to indicate that food items were safe for customers with certain allergies, when they were not. Scheuer also altered menu information related to wine regions to reflect locations of recent mass shootings.
The government sought a 70-month sentence for Scheuer’s crimes, but he ultimately received a 36-month term.
He will receive credit for the six months he has already served behind bars and could be released after service 85% of his total sentence according to his attorney.
Said his attorney:
He is very remorseful and apologized to the victims during the hearing. He is eager to get back home to his wife and 3 young daughters. He was the sole earner in the family as his wife has a number of medical issues and homeschools their children so he will look for work upon his release.
I have no sympathy for this dirt bag at all. There’s no excuse for him to put so many lives in danger. Can you imagine what the aftermath could have been had he been successful? Personally, I wish he had to spend more time behind bars. Someone like that should never, ever be trusted again. I find him to be a very vile and disgusting excuse of a human being. Not interested in starting any fights with anyone about this issue, these are just my own personal feelings.
Agree totally. My spouse s not quite 70 and has a life threatening tree nut allergy, while other youngsters have other severe allergies. Maybe he would think twice if one of his girls were allergic to something he changed. Praying for him to truly be remorseful, as I am for my own heart when I hear about the things that are so destructive to others.
That’s attempted murder! How did he get away with only 3 years? Isn’t he supposed to get either life in prison, or 15 years?