Ex-cook in Mount Olive admits he spat on customer’s roll

A former cook for Kennedy’s Pub in Mount Olive admitted to a judge Wednesday that he tampered with food on the job by spitting on a customer’s roll.

John F. Stagg Jr., 33, of Great Meadows in Warren County, wasn’t directly asked in court if the roll was served to the female patron but he previously told the Daily Record that he spat on the roll and didn’t serve it but a co-worker saw him and told management.

In exchange for his guilty plea before Superior Court Judge William McGovern in Morristown to tampering with food, Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Tracy Dannis has recommended that Stagg be sentenced to three years in state prison.

Stagg recently pleaded guilty in Warren County to eluding police and is expected to be sentenced there on July 25 to four years in prison. He will be sentenced in Morris County on July 31. The Morris and Warren sentences will run concurrently, not consecutively, and both stints are for so-called “flat” terms, meaning he won’t have to serve a minimum period of time behind bars before parole consideration.

The Morris County plea offer was hefty because Stagg has a prior robbery conviction for which he was sentenced to 10 years, with 8 1/2 years before parole eligibility.

Under questioning by defense lawyer Elizabeth Martin, Stagg admitted that he was working as a cook in Mount Olive on Oct. 17 and tampered with food so that it couldn’t be served to the customer. Dannis pressed for additional details.

“Mr. Stagg, specifically, you spit on the bread that was to be served to a customer?” she asked. He replied yes.

After a prior court hearing, Stagg also had said that the female customer sent her pasta dish back to the kitchen several times and he got frustrated. About three years ago, Stagg was involved in a motorcycle accident, lost a portion of his right leg and now wears a metal prosthesis.

Stagg was fired after the incident at Kennedy’s Pub and a township health inspector paid a visit, finding four health violations, which were quickly corrected. The pub now is under new management.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.