Top Chipotle Exec Allegedly Turned to Cocaine Delivery Service After E. Coli Outbreak In Oregon, Washington

A top executive at Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. was arrested July 5 in New York on cocaine charges for allegedly repeatedly purchasing the drug from a delivery service during the company's darkest days following an E. coli outbreak centered in Washington and Oregon.

Bloomberg reports that Mark Crumpacker, chief marketing and development officer for the popular fast food chain, was at the forefront of the effort to restore Chipotle's reputation after the federal Food and Drug Administration reported 55 people around the U.S. were infected with Shiga toxin-producing E. coli in November 2015.

Chipotle temporarily closed 43 Pacific Northwest locations in early November, and there were 27 confirmed cases in Washington and 13 in Oregon resulting from the chain's offerings.

As WW reported at the time, Oregon victims of the outbreak experienced "vomiting and bloody diarrhea" but no confirmed deaths.

In an apparent attempt to cope with his own suffering, Crumpacker, who was paid $4.28 million last year, allegedly bought cocaine repeatedly between January and May 2016 from a Manhattan cocaine delivery service.

Bloomberg reported that several of the dates Crumpacker allegedly purchased the drugs correspond with some of the company's most challenging times this spring:

· On January 29, days before the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a probe into two of Chipotle's E. coli outbreaks.

· On April 27, when Chipotle announced its first quarterly loss as a publicly traded company.

· On May 11, when Chipotle shareholders reprimanded the board at an annual meeting.

Chipotle placed Crumpacker on administrative leave on June 30.

"We are aware that Mark presented himself to authorities," Chris Arnold, a spokesman for Chipotle, told Bloomberg. "He remains on a leave of absence from his job to focus on these personal matters."

Willamette Week