Judge sanctions McDonald’s for withholding evidenceJudge sanctions McDonald’s for withholding evidence

SHEPHERDSVILLE Ky. A judge in Bullitt County, Ky., has sanctioned McDonald’s Corp. for withholding evidence in a lawsuit by a former employee who was the victim of a strip-search hoax in 2004 at a company-owned store.

McDonald’s did not acknowledge four other hoaxes at various units until August, contrary to the directive issued in late May by Senior Judge Tom McDonald, according to a report in The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky.

The judge ordered McDonald’s to pay discovery costs for plaintiff Louise Ogborn, who was 18 and working at a unit in Mount Washington, Ky., in April 2004, when the hoax allegedly occurred. According to the report, store managers detained Ogborn and told her to remove her clothes after a caller impersonating a police officer accused her of stealing a purse from a customer. Ogborn allegedly was held and sexually harassed for more than three hours. A female assistant manager and her boyfriend were later convicted of unlawful imprisonment, sexual abuse and other crimes.

McDonald’s spokesman Bill Whitman said he could not comment on the case because of a court-imposed gag order.

Victims of three of the four other hoaxes also sued McDonald’s, but details of those incidents were not immediately available.