JUNE 22--An Arby’s worker in Oklahoma has been charged with spitting in the food of a customer, an alleged contamination that the female victim says resulted in her contracting oral herpes, according to police and court records.

In late-March, Jennica Church, 38, placed an order at the restaurant in Broken Bow, a city in the state’s southeastern corner. Church, a bartender who had just gotten off work that Saturday evening, waited in the drive-thru line for her “4 for $10 sandwich meal,” cops reported.

Investigators charge that while Church’s order was being prepared, worker Amanda Hendricks, 38, spit in the food.

Arby’s surveillance video, an officer reported, showed Hendricks (pictured at right) “removing meat from the slicer,” which she “lifts...to neck level and leans her head down and you can see the saliva leave her mouth an go into the sandwich.” Hendricks then “continues making the other three sandwiches and sending out the order.”

Church ate one of the sandwiches and shared the remaining food with relatives.

After consuming the Arby’s grub, Church says she developed symptoms of an oral herpes infection, including “painful lesions, cold sores.” In a civil lawsuit, Church states that she has tested positive for Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1.

Suspecting that her food may have been contaminated, Church contacted cops, telling officers that rumors were spreading in town that Hendricks had been bragging about spitting in her food.

After serving a search warrant on Arby’s for surveillance tapes, investigators sought to question Hendricks. After agreeing to an interview at police headquarters, Hendricks called to say she could not come in “due to not having transportation.”

While explaining her no-show, Hendricks referred to the police obtaining the Arby’s footage and reportedly told an officer that “she was not going to waste my time, yes, she did it.”

Hendricks was subsequently charged with “poisoning food/medicine with intent to injure,” a felony. Her rap sheet includes convictions for narcotics possession, credit card fraud, receiving stolen property, and driving under the influence.

In Church’s June 16 lawsuit against Hendricks and Arby’s, she alleges that Hendricks was allowed to work in the restaurant despite having “an active herpes outbreak with visible lesions.” As a result, Church now “lives in constant fear” of transmitting herpes to her husband and two minor children. (2 pages)