Florida man sentenced for hacking Disney’s menus
A former Disney employee who pled guilty to hacking into the park’s menu system is now heading to prison. Winter Garden resident Michael Scheuer, 40, will serve three years in federal prison, as well as forfeit his computers and pay $687,776.50 in restitution to the victims of his crimes.
Fox – 35 Orlando
A former Disney employee has been sentenced to three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to accessing Walt Disney World’s computer system and tampering with menus.
Michael Scheuer, 41, also was ordered to pay about $688,000 in restitution on April 24 after he pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors in January.
Scheuer worked as a menu production manager at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, until he was fired in June 2024 for “misconduct,” according to the complaint filed in the Middle District of Florida in November.
As part of Scheuer’s duties, he was responsible for creating and publishing menus for Disney’s entire restaurant portfolio, which required using Disney’s secure servers. After a “contentious” departure from the company that Scheuer described as unfair, he began using his personal computer and cell phone to access the menu system and make changes described in court documents as “benign” at times and potentially “deadly” at others.
Fired employee added profanities to menu, removed allergen warnings
Over three months, Disney was a victim of “multiple computer intrusions into servers” associated with the menu program that Scheuer utilized, according to court documents. The company became aware of the intrusions on July 9.
Investigators described Scheuer’s more “benign” actions as changing prices or adding profanity to menus. In one case, he changed a menu item name from “cheesy grits” to “cheesy (expletive).” In another, he changed menu information about wine regions to “reflect locations of recent mass shootings,”
Federal prosecutors said that Scheuer’s actions became potentially fatal when he altered allergen information on restaurant menus to indicate that “food items were safe for customers with certain allergies, when they were not.” He removed warnings for peanuts, tree nuts and shellfish, often substituting them simply for “milk,” according to court documents.
Scheuer also targeted employees of the company, locking them out of their accounts in what prosecutors called “denial-of-service attacks.”
FBI search ended found computers used to hack menus
Scheuer’s actions were eventually detected and FBI agents searched and removed four computers from his home on Sept. 23, said the complaint. They were all connected to the same virtual private network (VPN) used in one or more of the cyber incidents, according to the complaint.
David Haas, Scheuer’s attorney, previously shared a statement with USA TODAY saying Scheuer has a disability that affected his employment. In a pretrial motion, he also said Scheuer had been seeing a psychiatrist for mental health struggles he’s had since childhood.
Hass did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday but told People that Scheuer “remains remorseful and apologetic to the victims.”
“We are grateful that the judge heard all of our arguments and mitigation when fashioning a sentence that was half of what the government was seeking,” they said.
Contributing: Jonathan Limehouse, USA TODAY
