Dangerous Side Dish: New Mexico Woman Biting into Sonic Hot Dog Gets Mouthful of Cocaine

A cook working at a Sonic fast-food restaurant in New Mexico has been arrested after a customer reportedly discovered a bag of cocaine in their food, according to authorities.

Celine Gonzales recently ordered a hot dog from the drive-thru at a Sonic location in Española, New Mexico, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

After biting into the hot dog she purchased, Gonzalez allegedly “felt what she described as a small plastic bag in her mouth,” the Journal reported. She spit out the bag and noticed it had a white powder inside.

Investigators seized the bag and determined that the powder was indeed cocaine. Officials said it had about a gram of the drug inside it.

It was not clear whether Gonzales ingested any of the cocaine.

Authorities used video footage to determine that 54-year-old David Salazar was responsible for the bag getting into the hot dog, the Journal stated.

A surveillance camera allegedly shows Salazar doing a “hand to hand transaction” with another employee and then making the woman’s hot dog, according to the Journal. All of a sudden, his body language can be seen changing.

“(Salazar) stops cooking and appears to be frantically searching the area as if he lost something,” court records state.

Investigators talked with Salazar, who admitted that it was his cocaine. He stated he purchased the drug from a woman in the parking lot, the Journal reported.

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Salazar was arrested and charged with felony possession of a controlled substance, officials said.

One Sonic customer said, “I think that’s pretty scary. We come here to get food for our families, and if a child found that it could have been pretty bad or deadly,” KOB-TV reported.