'Chili finger lady' allegedly in new hoax

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MILPITAS, Calif., Feb. 24 (UPI) -- The woman who made up a story about finding a finger in her chili at Wendy's is again facing a charge for lying to police in California, officials said.

Anna Ayala went on national television in 2005 to publicize how she found a finger in a bowl of chili at a Wendy's fast-food restaurant in San Jose, KGO-TV, San Francisco, said.

But it turned out she had planted the finger in her food herself, and she went to prison for four years.

San Jose police said Friday she filed another false police report. This time, it was to protect her son, Guadalupe Reyes, a convicted felon who was in possession of a gun and shot himself in the ankle, KGO-TV said.

Police said Ayala told police an innocent man shot Reyes, but her son eventually admitted the story was a lie. She is now charged with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor, as well as felony charges for being an accomplice to her son.

KGO-TV said Ayala faces a maximum of four years in prison and Reyes faces four years and eight months, if convicted.

They are scheduled to enter a plea next week in court.