A judge sentenced a former Disney World employee to three years in prison after he hacked into the park’s menu system to remove peanut allergy information, add profanities and change fonts.
Michael Scheuer, 40, of Winter Garden, Florida, will serve three years in federal prison and must forfeit his computers and pay $687,776.50 in restitution to the victims, according to Fox 35.
Scheuer pleaded guilty to the charges in January.
He had worked as a menu production manager for Disney and was responsible for the creation and distribution of all restaurant menus, including the digital menus, Fox 35 reported. He was terminated on June 13, 2024.
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Scheuer’s firing was “contentious and…not considered to be amicable,” according to a federal complaint, which alleged that Scheuer “made several menu changes that threatened public health and safety,” according to the outlet.
The complaint says Scheuer added profanity and changed the pricing of some items on the menus. It also says he sent multiple log-in requests, which prevented more than a dozen employees from being able to access their accounts and systems.
None of his changes made it to printed or digital versions of the menu, but the complaint said the damages were in excess of $150,000.
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The FBI raided Scheuer’s house on Sept. 23 and seized at least four computers.
Scheuer initially denied any involvement or wrongdoing when questioned by the FBI, alleging that Disney “was attempting to frame him because they were worried about him and the conditions under which he was terminated.”
Attorney David Haas, who represents Scheuer, said his client had a disability that impacted his employment at Disney, according to Fox 35.
“He had a medical event that resulted in him being suspended,” Haas said. “Disney then failed to respond to his inquiries about why he was suspended, and then his suspension was inexplicably changed to a termination.”
“Disney refused to provide a response as to why he was fired and made no accommodations for him,” Haas continued. “He subsequently filed an EEOC complaint. I look forward to vigorously presenting my client’s side of the story.”
Scheuer was originally charged with one count of knowingly causing the transmission of a program, information, code or command to a protected computer and intentionally causing damage without authorization in excess of $5,000.
