As these things frequently do, it began with something utterly unremarkable. After a long shift, a woman goes to get dinner. In Broken Bow, Oklahoma, she passes a small-town Arby’s, picks up an order for her family and herself, and drives home. There was nothing about that late March evening that indicated it would be featured in court documents and make headlines across the country months later.
Jennica Church filed a civil lawsuit alleging that Amanda Hendricks, 38, was the manager who prepared her order that night. According to the complaint, Hendricks was actively managing an oral herpes outbreak, complete with visible lesions, when she spat on the meat or sandwich components. It’s the kind of detail that makes it difficult to read without cringing, which is precisely why this case has spread so far beyond Oklahoma.
Church claims that after eating a portion of one sandwich in the parking lot, she brought the remainder home to share it with her husband and her mother-in-law, who was at the time receiving hospice care. Shortly afterward, she experienced an unprecedented lip sore. According to reports, medical testing revealed that she had HSV-1, the virus that causes oral herpes.
The video was what turned this from a troubling accusation into a criminal case. Hendricks is seen operating the meat slicer and lowering her head toward the sandwich ingredients on surveillance footage taken inside the restaurant, according to investigators, with saliva clearly spilling onto the food. The state moved fast to charge her with felony poisoning of food with intent to injure rather than something less serious because that’s not the kind of information prosecutors usually receive on a platter.
This story contains a detail that is nearly as unsettling as the alleged act. According to court records and the lawsuit, when Church first called the restaurant to voice her concerns, she was informed that staff had examined the video and found nothing amiss. The accusations against Hendricks allegedly didn’t take off until police independently acquired the footage. Church’s lawyer, Will Blocker, has publicly questioned whether the initial dismissal was due to carelessness, inadequate training, or something else entirely.
Blocker has also cited a FaceTime video in which Hendricks is said to have acknowledged spitting in the sandwiches; however, like everything else in this case, the claim has not been put to the test in court. Hendricks and the Flynn Group, the franchise operator thought to be in charge of the Broken Bow location, are both named in the family’s lawsuit, which claims the restaurant retained Hendricks on staff despite being aware of her illness. The Flynn Group has not responded to the public.
The size of the company’s alleged initial gesture is noteworthy. Following the incident, the family was allegedly offered free sandwiches and a $5 gift card, according to the lawsuit. Blocker has called this offer wildly out of proportion to the severity of the alleged incident. It’s difficult to ignore how frequently stories like this one highlight the disconnect between lived harm and corporate response.
The Church family’s civil lawsuit and Hendricks’ criminal case are still pending, and it is currently unknown if Hendricks has retained legal counsel to address them. Church will have to live with the consequences of whatever the courts decide because there is no cure for HSV-1, only management through antiviral medication. The fact that this story isn’t really about a sandwich is likely what has kept it on the internet longer than most local crime news. Every time a person pulls up to a drive-thru window, they unconsciously give up a certain amount of trust.
