He’s headed to the unhappiest place on Earth.
A disgruntled former Disney World employee who hacked into menus at the park’s restaurants to say foods were safe for people with allergies to eat when they weren’t was handed a stiff sentence and a nearly $700,000 fine.
Prosecutors said Michael Scheuer of Winter Garden, Florida, manipulated “allergen information in restaurant menus to indicate that food items were safe for customers with certain allergies, when they were not.”
Disgruntled former Disney World employee, Michael Scheuer, hacked into menus at the park’s restaurants to say foods were safe for people with allergies when they weren’t. FBIIn another bizarre twist, Scheuer, who investigators said was retaliating against Disney after he was fired for unspecified “misconduct,” changed menu information related to wine regions so it looked like they were sourced from the scenes of mass shootings.
Scheurer was sentenced to three years in prison, stuck with a $687,776.50 fine and was forced to turn over his computer to investigators.
Scheuer’s lawyer said that his client had a mental disability that led to a “panic attack while he was at work.”
He was initially suspended by Disney, then terminated, said the lawyer, David Haas.
Scheuer approaches the home of a Disney employee he targeted in cyberattacks in this image from a Ring doorbell camera. FBIWhen Disney didn’t respond to Scheuer’s questions about being fired, he filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint, Haas said.
In a statement, Haas said his client was grateful for the sentence.
“He is very remorseful and apologized to the victims during the hearing,” Haas said in a statement. “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.”
Scheuer was fined almost $700,000 for his actions at the park. Getty ImagesDisney employees first became aware of the hack after they noticed that the fonts in the menu creation program had been changed to wingdings, making them “unusable,” according to the complaint.
Scheurer also targeted mostly “upper-level management” Disney employees in a variety of other ways, including locking employees out of their company computer systems and on one occasion, visiting an employee’s home — an invasion caught on a Ring camera.
He also hacked into a separate server and digitally altered QR codes that sent diners to the website boycott-israel.org.
Scheuer also changed menu information on wine regions to make it look like they were sourced from the scenes of mass shootings. APScheuer kept a folder containing the home addresses, phone numbers and relatives’ personal information of four victims, investigators said.
According to its website, Walt Disney World Resort takes “great pride” in accommodating the needs of people with allergies who have “special dietary requests, making Scheuer’s menu-meddling all the more horrific.
Still, in 2023, NYU Langone doctor Kanokporn “Amy” Tangsuan died after a meal at Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant at Disney Springs on the Walt Disney World property.
Despite repeatedly warning the staff about her nut and dairy allergies, she struggled to breathe and collapsed shortly after her meal and died from “anaphylaxis due to elevated levels of dairy and nut in her system,” according to a lawsuit.
While the restaurant is owned and operated by Irish partners John Cooke and Paul Nolan, and not by Disney, guests can make a reservation on the Disney World website, where dietary requests can always be specified.
