Crime & Safety

Chef Gets 3 Years for Spitting on Food at North Jersey Pub

John Stagg's sentence will run concurrent with another conviction out of Warren County, report says.

A local chef will spend three years in jail for spitting in someone’s food.

John Stagg, 33, of Independence Township, pled guilty to tampering with food last October at Kennedy’s Pub in Mt. Olive. He was on parole during the time of the incident, nj.com reported.

At a hearing earlier this year, Stagg admitted that he spit on a customer’s roll after a dispute, but contended he never actually served the tainted food. Stagg said he was frustrated because the customer kept sending her plate back again and again, the report said.

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A co-worker of Stagg’s called police after she saw the incident, police said. Earlier this year in court, Stagg said the co-worker was “out to get his job.”

The 51-year-old customer, from Lake Hopatcong, was notified of the incident, police said.

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The guilty plea is Stagg’s third conviction. He previously spent more than eight years in prison for a robbery conviction in Warren County.

The jail sentence will run concurrent with a four-year term, the report said, after Stagg pleaded guilty to eluding police during a traffic stop in May 2011. At his last court appearance in April, Stagg rejected the three-year plea deal.

Stagg was fired from Kennedy’s shortly after the incident occurred.

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