By Meagan Pollnow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WEST CHESTER TWP. - A 20-year-old Arby's customer got down to the last curly fry when he noticed a thick liquid resting in the bottom of the French fry container.

"It was gross," Chuenk Chow said Friday. "I finished the whole thing before I saw the spit."

When Chow realized the substance was saliva, he immediately called police who showed up at the restaurant.

Police talked to Daryl Bailey, an Arby's employee, who cooperated with authorities. Bailey was ticketed for allegedly placing a harmful object in food - a first-degree misdemeanor that carries of fine of up to $1,000 or six months in jail.

Chow said he often ate at the Arby's, 8116 Princeton-Glendale Road, and went through the drive-through with his friends around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

"We ordered a large curly fry but the girl gave us a small curly fry," Chow said. "We had them exchange it for a large one."

Chow believes his complaint and the exchange prompted a worker to the spit in his fries.

"We did determine that it was body fluid," said West Chester Township police spokesman Sgt. Ryan Rebholz, who declined to elaborate.

Rebholz said that Bailey, 24, was working behind the counter when he spit into the fries.

Police ticketed Bailey. And Arby's fired him.

In Ohio, it is illegal to "place a pin, needle, razor blade, glass, laxative, drug of abuse, or other harmful or hazardous object or substance in any food or confection." It is also illegal to knowingly pass the item on to a customer.

Robert Shuler, who manages the restaurant, said he's never heard of any employee placing "harmful objects in food" at his Arby's.

"He was terminated immediately after the police came," Schuler said.

Regardless, Chow said he's never going back.