A fired Disney worker has been accused of hacking into the online menu system used by restaurants at Disney World and changing them to falsely indicate that some dishes were safe for customers with peanut allergies.
Michael Scheuer, who worked as a “menu production manager” for Disney before he was fired for misconduct in June, was accused by federal prosecutors of using his work passwords to log into a proprietary menu creation software system used exclusively by Disney World restaurants in Florida, according to a report.
News of the criminal complaint in the US Middle District of Florida, which does not mention Disney by name, was first reported by Court Watch and 404 Media.
Scheuer’s lawyer, David Haas, confirmed to The Post that his client had been a Disney employee.
Haas told The Post that Scheuer was arrested last Thursday.
A detention hearing is scheduled for Election Day.
“The allegations acknowledge that no one was injured or harmed. I look forward to vigorously presenting my client’s side of the story,” Haas told The Post.
Scheuer allegedly altered allergy information on the menu and added profanity, according to the federal complaint.
Disney caught the menus after they were printed but before they were distributed to Disney restaurants, according to the complaint.
Haas told The Post that Scheuer had a “mental disability that caused a panic attack while he was at work.”
“At first, Disney suspended him and then it was changed to a termination without explanation,” Haas said.
Disney was non-responsive when my client inquired about the basis for termination, according to Haas.
“Disney failed to respond to his inquiries about being fired and he then filed an EEOC complaint in response,” Haas said.
An EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) complaint is often a precursor to a discrimination lawsuit.
The complaint alleges that Scheuer used his login credentials from his time at Disney to break into one of the menu creator’s servers.
Disney employees became aware of the hack after they noticed that all of the fonts in the menu creation program were changed to wingdings.
“As a result of this change, all of the menus within the database were unusable because the font changes propagated throughout the database,” according to the complaint.
Scheuer is also alleged to have hacked into a separate server and digitally altered QR codes that redirected diners to the website boycott-israel.org.
The complaint also alleged that Scheuer locked at least 14 Disney employees out of their Disney accounts by repeatedly trying to log into their company systems using the wrong password thousands of times.
“A large majority of the individuals targeted had some type of interaction with Scheuer or were considered to be upper-level management” at Disney, it was alleged in the complaint.
Scheuer is also alleged to have targeted four other Disney employees for a “DoS (denial-of-service) attack.”
Authorities alleged that Scheuer kept a folder containing the home addresses, phone numbers and relatives’ personal information of the four individuals.
Scheuer is alleged to have showed up at one of the victims’ homes on the night of Oct. 22, according to the complaint, which included images taken by a Ring doorbell camera showing a man alleged to be the defendant.
After Scheuer’s appearance at the home, the victim who lived there left the residence and stayed at a hotel.
The Post has sought comment from Disney.
In October of last year, Kanokporn Tangsuan, a doctor at New York University Langone hospital in Manhattan, was having dinner with her husband and mother at a Disney Springs restaurant.
According to a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Disney, Tangsuan had a severe allergy to nuts and dairy products and informed the waiter at Raglan Road Irish Pub that she required “allergen free food.”
The couple questioned the waiter about various items on the menu, according to the lawsuit. The waiter then asked the chef “whether certain foods could be made allergen free,” before returning to the table and confirming they could.
Shortly after eating dinner, Tangsuan was having difficulty breathing when she entered Planet Hollywood and collapsed to the floor.
The doctor died at the hospital, according to the lawsuit.
A medical examiner’s investigation determined she died as a result of “anaphylaxis due to elevated levels of dairy and nut in her system,” the lawsuit said.
Disney initially asked a Florida court to dismiss the wrongful death lawsuit on the grounds that the victim’s family had signed up for its streaming service Disney+.
But the public backlash to the move prompted the company’s lawyers to withdraw the request.
With Post Wires
