New York ID theft ring involved waiters

NEW YORK » An ambitious and disciplined identity theft ring recruited waiters at steakhouses and other high-end New York restaurants to steal diners’ credit card information, then used it for luxury shopping sprees, authorities said Friday.

Some 28 people have been indicted on various charges, including racketeering, conspiracy and grand larceny.

The group had seven waiters use so-called "skimming" devices to copy at least 50 restaurant-goers’ American Express credit card data surreptitiously while running their tabs at such powerhouse eateries as Smith & Wollensky and Wolfgang’s Steakhouse, said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.

The ring made up counterfeit credit cards with the stolen information, then had associates fan out to buy big-ticket items, including Rolex and Patek Phillippe watches, Hermes and Chanel handbags, Jimmy Choo shoes, vintage wine and even a Roy Lichtenstein lithography of Marilyn Monroe, making purchases from Boston to Los Angeles to Palm Beach, Fla., Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Directed by 41-year-old ringleader Luis Damian "D.J." Jacas, the group was choosy and careful, authorities said.

The waiters were told to focus on cards with high spending limits — such as the Amex gold or jet-black Centurion card — so their raft of pricey purchases wouldn’t prompt American Express to call the cardholders.

Even so, Jacas didn’t allow more than $35,000 in purchases on any one card and would ditch each after about three days’ use, Kelly said.

The ring’s shoppers were instructed on how to dress and act like customers accustomed to spending big, and they were equipped with fake Maryland and Pennsylvania driver’s licenses to back up their phony identities, authorities said. They made sure the cards were still valid by using them in a taxi or coffee shop before going into chic stores, and leaders went along to direct the purchases, officials added.

McDonald’s drops egg supplier over cruelty

MINNEAPOLIS » McDonald’s Corp. said Friday it has dropped a Minnesota-based egg supplier after an animal rights group released an undercover video of operations at the egg producer’s farms in three states.

The video by Mercy for Animals shows what the group calls animal cruelty at five Sparboe Farms facilities in Iowa, Minnesota and Colorado. Its images include a worker swinging a bird around by its feet, hens packed into cramped cages, male chicks being tossed into plastic bags to suffocate and workers cutting off the tips of chicks’ beaks.

"The behavior on tape is disturbing and completely unacceptable. McDonald’s wants to assure our customers that we demand humane treatment of animals by our suppliers," Bob Langert, McDonald’s vice president for sustainability, said in a statement.

The move also followed a warning letter to Sparboe Farms dated Wednesday from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that said inspectors found "serious violations" at five Sparboe facilities of federal regulations meant to prevent salmonella. The warning said eggs from those facilities "have been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby they may have been rendered injurious to health."

Sparboe Companies LLC issued a statement calling the video "shocking" and saying an internal investigation identified four employees "who were complicit in this disturbing activity" and were fired this month.

Heinz adapting to new economic realities

PORTLAND, Ore. » H.J. Heinz Co knows that every penny counts in this economy.

The world’s biggest ketchup maker’s second-quarter profit fell yet narrowly beat expectations on an adjusted basis Friday as it focused on fast-growing emerging markets. But in struggling developed markets such as the U.S. and Europe, the company is shrinking product sizes and selling lower-priced products such as ketchup for 99 cents and canned beans for around a dollar to appeal to budget-stretched shoppers.

Heinz also announced plans to close three more plants as it tries to keep its own costs under tighter control.

Consumers are struggling with continued pressure from high unemployment and food costs. As a result, many people are living paycheck to paycheck, buying only what they can afford rather than bigger bottles or cans of food that might be more cost-effective.

Heinz said to meet consumers’ needs, it is selling pouches instead of bottles of some of its condiments, reintroducing bean products to the U.S. and selling a bag of french fries for family dinners at $1.99.

Heinz’s net income fell to $237 million, or 73 cents a share, for the fiscal quarter versus $251.4 million, or 78 cents a share, a year ago.

Excluding one-time items related to productivity initiatives, Heinz earned 81 cents a share. That beat the 80 cents a share by analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Revenue rose 8 percent to $2.83 billion from $2.61 billion a year ago but still fell short of analysts’ expectations of $2.9 billion.

ON THE MOVE

McDonald’s Restaurants of Hawaii has named Samuel Chee area construction manager. His experience with McDonald’s includes positions as an asset management intern and property manager coordinator as well as dual region property manager for the Ohio and Indianapolis regions, which was his recent position before coming to Hawaii.

AlohaCare has appointed Dr. Sharon Tisza its new medical director. She is a board-certified physician, specializing in the areas of child, adolescent, adult and forensic psychiatry. Tisza has been a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry for the University of Hawaii Department of Psychiatry as well as an author of several published articles focusing on psychiatry and pediatrics. She is also known as a medical expert in court cases involving civil and criminal forensic psychiatry.