Restaurant Chef Allegedly Contaminates Steak After Patron Complains It Wasn't What He Ordered

O.K., admit it, you've often heard those horror stories about what restaurant workers do to the food of customers they don't like. But you never really believed them did you?

This may change your mind.

A chef in West Bend, Wisconsin is facing felony charges after a diner complained that his steak was overcooked. Kevin Hansen went out with his family on Saturday to the eatery where Ryan Kropp (top left) toiled as a cook.

When the manager came to ask if everything was satisfactory, Hansen told him his meat was served medium and not medium rare as he ordered.

He refused to let them give him a new one, but the manager insisted he be given a free steak to take home, with the apologies of the restaurant.

But when the maitre d' took the unwanted meal back to Kropp and his fellow chef, "so that they could both learn what a medium rare steak was supposed to look like," the man behind the oven became incensed.

The next day Hansen called police after discovering his complimentary meal had what appeared to be "hair" sticking out of the middle of it.

Cops traced the offending meat back to the restaurant and after investigating further, decided there was enough evidence to charge Kropp with the relatively rare felony of "placing foreign objects in edibles."

A co-worker admitted seeing Kropp make a slit in the replacement, saying, "These are my pubes," referring to pubic hair. Kropp told police he was angry because he thought his handiwork was just what the customer ordered, accusing Hansen of "just trying to get free stuff." But he insists it was only facial hair.

Either way, Kropp has some new challenges on the menu. He was fired from his job and could face as much as 3½ years in prison and a $10,000 fine.