Woman's arrest in chili hoax takes the heat off Wendy's.

Byline: From Register-Guard and news service reports

LOS ANGELES - A woman who said she bit into a severed human finger while spooning into fast-food chili at a San Jose Wendy's last month was arrested after investigators found inconsistencies in her story of the gruesome discovery, officials said Friday.

Anna Ayala, 39, was arrested Thursday night at her Las Vegas home on a charge of attempted grand larceny, including a penalty enhancement for inflicting more than $2.5 million in losses on Wendy's. She also was charged with grand larceny in an alleged real-estate swindle not related to the Wendy's case.

The arrest ends a public-relations nightmare for the national burger chain, which saw sales plunge at least 30 percent at its San Jose-area franchises after the March 22 report.

Jeff Vogel, who owns six Wendy's in Eugene and Springfield, said sales of chili were down slightly at his stores, especially after the story first broke. But it's nothing compared to what franchisees in the San Jose area faced.

"That story played over and over and over again in California, nonstop," he said. "It has had a devastating effect on families, on workers at the stories, distributors, suppliers. It's mind-boggling the effect it had on the whole Wendy's system."

Stores in the San Jose area were forced to drastically cut back hours and in some cases lay off workers, he said. Distributors, used to doing $10,000 worth of business a week, found themselves doing $800 or $900 instead, he said.

But as suspicion fell on Ayala, "the tide has turned," he said. "I don't believe consumers believe Wendy's had anything to do with it."

Yet the investigation continues, as police say they still don't know from exactly where, or whom, the finger came.

San Jose Police Chief Robert Davis said at a televised news conference that state health officials did an ``ingredient trace-back investigation'' that found no evidence the well-manicured digit entered the chili at any point of the preparation or storage process, all the way back to the places where the tomatoes and beans were canned.

``What started as a public health investigation ... subsequently turned into a criminal investigation,'' he said.

Police also would not say what exactly led them to suspect Ayala other than unspecified forensic tests and ``gumshoe detective work.'' In an article posted Friday on its Web site, the San Jose Mercury News cited documents provided by sources stating that tests by the county medical examiner found the finger had not been cooked for three hours at the 170 degrees required for Wendy's chili.

The newspaper also cited sources saying investigators could find no witnesses outside Ayala's family who saw her spit the finger out.

Davis said at the news conference that police ``still believe there are people in California and Nevada who may have information.''

The incident fueled endless morning DJ chatter and some grotesque late-night talk-show jokes. Locally, Wendy's employees have heard numerous wisecracks, Vogel said.

At the Mohawk Boulevard store in Springfield, general manager Kevin Wilson said he'd heard comments such as, "Found any fingers in your chili lately," and "I didn't know chili was finger food."

At the Willamette Street store, "We have had some few customers, they don't want to eat the chili because of that," General Manager Amelia Diaz said. "We explained to them it wasn't here. They don't feel happy about getting the chili."

Register-Guard reporter Tim Christie contributed to this Washington Post report.