Fast food worker arrested for allegedly giving unauthorized meal discounts to friends and ‘random customers’

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jamel Earl Dennis, 27, was arrested yesterday for allegedly giving over $2,000 in unauthorized meal discounts to friends and “random customers” while working at two different Wendy’s stores.

Dennis was reportedly employed as an Assistant Manager at two Gainesville Wendy’s stores from November 2025 through yesterday. During that period, he allegedly made about 103 fraudulent transactions, depriving the company of $2,136.21.

A Wendy’s employee explained to the responding Gainesville Police Department officer that managers and assistant managers enter their fingerprints when giving discounts or free meals, and a code is also entered to document the reason for the discount.

The company reportedly discovered that Dennis had been giving a high number of discounts with no code to document the reason, and he was providing discounts at a much higher rate than any other employee in the district. Some discounts were appropriate, but the company found that Dennis was giving discounts of 50%, 25%, and 10% to friends, family, and other customers, violating the company’s policies and procedures.

A company representative told the officer that Dennis had been trained in these policies and procedures regarding discounts and had signed a form acknowledging that he understood the policies.

Dennis was reportedly caught providing unauthorized discounts while training at the Alachua store; he reportedly received additional training and was warned against continuing the practice. However, he was caught again at the Main Street store and warned again.

Post Miranda, Dennis reportedly said at first that he had never received any training or warnings about discounts, but he later admitted that he had been told multiple times to stop providing discounts. He reportedly admitted giving discounts to his friends, family, and customers and estimated that he has probably given away five free or discounted meals per week since he started working at Wendy’s.

Dennis reportedly said he gave people discounts to help them and did not think it mattered to the store. He said that only about half the discounts were given to his friends and family; the rest were given to random customers who he wanted to help.

On May 6, for example, another employee reported that a customer in the drive-through asked for Dennis; the employee went to get Dennis and then saw Dennis give the customer a 25% discount. When the arresting officer asked Dennis about this, Dennis reportedly said he gave the customer a discount because he could and he felt like he was helping.

The officer noted that more charges are expected for incidents in Alachua, and the current charges are for discounted meals, but free meals are handled differently, and those are still being reviewed.

Dennis has been charged with engaging in a scheme to defraud. He has one local arrest for shoplifting a headset worth about $6 in 2017; he entered into a deferred prosecution agreement that was later revoked because he failed to comply with the conditions of the agreement, but the charge was dropped a few weeks after the agreement was revoked. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $2,500 on the new charge.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law