Aramark employee allegedly told inmate to serve cake eaten by rodents

LANSING, Mich. — Emails among Michigan Department of Corrections staff members show an Aramark employee ordered a kitchen worker to serve cake that rodents partially ate at the Central Michigan Correctional Facility near St. Louis.

Progress Michigan, a liberal advocacy group, released the emails, which are a part of a cache of communications obtained under the Freedom of Information Act last year.

Jeffrey Larson, an employee at the facility, emailed multiple staff members on July 20, 2014, about the discovery.

"A kitchen worked (sic) reported to custody staff that he was ordered to serve cake that had evidence of rodents eaten from it," Larson wrote in the email. "The Aramark employee allegedly ordered him to cut the sides of the cake off and serve it to the population."

In another email, Lloyd Rapelje, an administrator in the MDOC, was more specific about what happened.

"The Aramark staff served cake rodents were observed eating from," he wrote.

• Read the emails here.

The emails reflect that Aramark fired the employee, referred to by the name "Ellsworth" in the emails. Once the incident was discovered, MDOC officials put a "stop order" on Ellsworth, meaning he would not be allowed to come into Central Michigan Correctional Facility.

Chris Gautz, spokesman for the MDOC, said a prisoner who worked in the kitchen at the facility was throwing away cakes that appeared to have been eaten or pawed at by a rodent. When Ellsworth saw the inmate throwing away whole cakes, he told him to stop.

Instead, Ellsworth told the prisoner to cut off the parts that appeared to have been eaten by rodents.

"He complied with that and put frosting over the portion that hadn't been touched by any rodents and then served that to prisoners that morning," Gautz said.

Later on that morning, the inmate told correctional officers about the incident. Gautz said Ellsworth was kicked out of the prison within 45 minutes of MDOC staffers becoming aware of the incident and then the "stop order" was put in place a few hours later.

An email from Michael Flesch, vice president of operation/correctional services for Aramark, stated Ellsworth would be fired on July 21. Gautz was unable to confirm Ellsworth was fired and directed questions about his status to Aramark.