Man pleads guilty to food contamination after 380 people fall ill

A man has pleaded guilty to a litany of serious charges that, among others, include contaminating food at Hereford House in Leawood, Kansas that resulted in around 380 people falling ill.

The other charges include criminal damage exceeding $25,000 (£18,400), 22 counts of criminal threat, and 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography.

Jace Hanson, 22, was only employed at Hereford House for around a month in 2024 and was reported to the FBI in that time for allegedly posting videos of his crimes online.

Hanson worked in the kitchen for around a month (San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers / Contributor/Getty Images)

He was accused of spitting in customers’ food, rubbing the food with his feet and genitalia, putting food in his underwear, and urinating on food.

The court was shown thumbnails of images and videos posted by user ‘Vandalizer’ which depicted some of the alleged crimes. They included images of a man urinating in food housed in restaurant bins, and pressing food onto his genitals and buttocks.

During questioning, court documents said that Hanson described urinating in Au Jus sauce, urinating on pickles, and placing his genitals on salmon. He himself estimated that he had undertaken similar actions on at least 20 occasions.

Jace Hanson (Johnson County Sheriff's Office)

Per KCTV, over 380 people made calls to the Leawood Police Department claiming they had become ill after eating at Hereford House. In excess of 10 civil lawsuits have since been filed by those who fell ill with gastrointestinal problems, with some claiming they had become seriously ill.

Hanson reportedly told investigators that the videos had been filmed for men whom he had met on Grindr, Sniffy’s Snapchat and Scruff, with those men having allegedly requested footage of him contaminating food in the restaurant’s kitchen.

He had originally pleaded not guilty to all charges in September 2024, but has now admitted to at least 20 occasions on which he contaminated food whilst working at Hereford House. Hanson pleaded guilty on 3 July 2025, and a departure hearing is set for 26 August 2025.

Hundreds of diners reported gastrointestinal illness following meals at Hereford House (boonchai wedmakawand/Getty Images)

Kansas District Court describes: ‘A departure hearing is a specialized legal proceeding triggered when a judge believes there are substantial and compelling reasons to deviate from the standard Kansas sentencing guidelines. This means the court can impose a sentence that is either more lenient or more severe than what the guidelines would typically dictate’.

The legal action brought against Hereford House has seen the company close its Leawood and Zona Rosa locations, owing to ‘financial strains’, per NPR.

It has, however, kept its Shawnee and Independence locations open.