McDonald's Strip Search Hoax Ringleader David Stewart Was Found Not Guilty Here's Why

Publish date: 2024-06-13

Despite the case that implied his involvement in the strip search of fast-food employees, David Stewart was found not guilty in 2006. Find out why the subject of Netflix‘s latest true crime series Don’t Pick Up the Phone did not serve any time.

Netflix’s ‘Don’t Pick Up the Phone’ tells the story of David Stewart’s alleged crimes

Netflix’s latest docuseries Don’t Pick Up the Phone follows the investigation into the hoax calls that led to the strip-searching of employees across the US. The case first garnered the attention of police when 18-year-old McDonald’s employee Louise Ogborn was forced to strip and perform a sexual act on her boss’s fiancé in 2004. But Ogborn wasn’t the first victim of the hoax caller, whose ploy began in 1992.

Mount Washington Police Detective Buddy Stump discovered these calls were happening at least 10 years prior across the United States. A 55-year-old janitor conducted a cavity search of a 19-year-old cashier at a McDonald’s in Hinesville, Georgia. One manager at a Burger King in Fargo, North Dakota, strip-searched a 17-year-old female employee. In Pheonix, a Taco Bell manager received a call then strip-searched a customer.

Working with Massachusetts detective Vic Flaherty, Stump uncovered the perpetrator was using calling cards to make these hoax calls. Those calling cards were traced to Panama City, Florida and eventually tied to David Richard Stewart.

McDonald’s strip search hoax suspect David Stewart was found not guilty

As detailed in the Netflix true crime series, Stewart was a corrections officer for the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). This private prison operates a jail in Panama City. Stewart, who was 38 years old when police uncovered his identity, previously attended a local police academy. He also volunteered as a deputy for a small police department in Florida.

Stewart’s criminal trial occurred in the fall of 2006, where he was accused of masterminding the strip search hoax. According to ABC News, Stewart faced 15 years in prison on “charges ranging from solicitation of sodomy to impersonating a police officer.” However, there were no witnesses to identify Stewart as the caller. As a result, the evidence against him was purely circumstantial and Stewart was found not guilty on all charges.

David Stewart’s whereabouts in 2022 are unknown

Since his trial, Stewart has kept a low profile. It’s unknown if he’s still in Florida or has moved elsewhere in the United States.

Why did David Stewart target fast-food chains like McDonald’s and Taco Bell?

According to clinical psychologist Jeff Gardere, Stewart’s calls allowed him to fulfill a “God-like complex by manipulating his victims emotionally, physically, and sexually” through “virtual voyeurism” (via ABC). The employees at fast-food restaurants were an easy target for Stewart because “everything is by the book” for them.

“You follow the book — you’re OK,” Gardere explained. “I believe he picked fast food restaurants because he knew, once you got them away from that book, once it was something outside the manual or the procedures, they would be lost.”

David Stewart’s phone hoax inspired the movie ‘Compliance’

The 2012 film Compliance starring Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy, and Bill Camp is based on the events at the Mount Washington McDonald’s. At publication, the movie is available to stream on Prime Video.