A series of bizarre fast-food and restaurant-related incidents has made the news recently, from a shooting over soda in a water cup to a straw-licking prank just for clicks.
Against that backdrop, Texas authorities say a former Chick-fil-A employee is facing felony charges after allegedly stealing more than $80,000 in fraudulent mac and cheese transactions.
According to local reporting from KDFW, police arrested Keyshun Jones, a former worker at a Chick-fil-A location in Grapevine, Texas, after investigators say he accessed the restaurant’s register to issue hundreds of fake refunds tied to mac and cheese orders, credited to himself.
Authorities allege Jones was fired in October 2025 but later returned to the restaurant and used internal access to process roughly 800 fraudulent transactions.
Investigators say he rang up mac and cheese orders and immediately refunded the charges to his own accounts. The owner noticed the fraud and contacted the police.
Authorities arrested Jones in April after he evaded police once warrants were issued.
Surveillance footage and transaction logs reportedly linked Jones to the activity, according to police. According to authorities, Jones faces charges including theft of property and money laundering, and remains in custody as the case proceeds. Prosecutors could pursue multiple felony charges.
The dangerous world of fast food
The Jones mac-and-cheese grift aside, the Chick-fil-A case happened alongside several recent violent or unusual fast-food-related incidents.
In Portland, Oregon, police responded to a stabbing at a Denny’s restaurant, leaving one man’s throat cut. The incident reportedly happened near the Denny’s location, and the man, badly injured, entered the restaurant for help. The Portland Police Bureau investigated the incident. The man survived.
Meanwhile, in Florida, a Taco Bell employee was arrested after allegedly shooting at customers during a dispute over a soda fountain. According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, it began when customers filled a water cup with soda. The employee, D’Mari Patterson, 20, then pulled out a gun and started shooting.
Patterson later said he thought the customers had guns of their own and could “get jiggy.” The shooting grazed one person with a bullet, and others suffered minor injuries. The employee faces multiple counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, according to NBC Miami.
Then, in Singapore, in a similar, but less dangerous situation, Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, a French student living there, allegedly licked the straws at an iJooz orange juice vending machine intended for customers and then put them back for later use for a viral prank. The company had to sanitize the entire machine and replace all 500 straws in the dispenser.
Published: Apr 30, 2026 06:09 pm