Johnsonville Sausage Factory Worker Allegedly Put Wire Connector And Cigarette Papers Into Food

You really don't want to know how these sausages were made.

A Johnsonville Sausage factory work in Wisconsin allegedly stuffed a wire connector and cigarette papers into food on the job, authorities said.

Jonathan Lane allegedly put cigarette paper into one piece of meat on March 25 at the Sheboygan Falls factory, and the wire connector into another sausage link three days later, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

In both cases, Lane alerted his bosses that he discovered contaminated pieces of meat, and the plant had to be closed to remove any affected products.

But surveillance footage allegedly revealed it was Lane who sullied the sausages. The sausages in question never left the facility.

Lane told investigators that if he lost track of the soiled sausages he would have "prayed to God" that a machine or someone else would have noticed it, according to WBAY in Green Bay.

Lane has been charged with two counts of tampering with a consumer product and acting with reckless disregard. He faces up to a decade behind bars if convicted.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General and Assistant U.S. Attorney Karine Moreno-Taxman are investigating the case.

Johnsonville Sausage said in a statement, "We applaud our food-safety teams for the processes they have in place to identify food-tampering situations like this, so that no affected product leaves our plant – which we can confirm was the case here."

It noted that employees will be fired if they fail to meet the company's quality standards. 

This is not Lane's first brush with the law. He was convicted on misdemeanor theft charges twice in 2009, twice in 2011, once in 2015 and once again in 2016, records show. 

[Photos: Kenosha County Jail, Getty Images]