A jury was asked Monday to determine whether Burnet’s police chief ate a tainted burger last year at a restaurant that has since closed its doors.

Jaime Alberto Perez, 24, of Denison, who was once the kitchen manager at the former Andy’s Landing eatery in Burnet, is charged with three third-degree felony counts for allegedly tampering with Burnet Police Chief Paul Nelson’s cheeseburger in October 2008.

“The defendant got so angry at the chief that he got back at him by putting stuff in his food,” prosecutor Joe Greer told jurors in his opening statement. “The defendant came to (a former co-worker) unsolicited and reached a point where, on his own volition, he told her about how he can’t stand Paul Nelson. In graphic detail he said he rubbed the chief’s bun on his crotch, licked vegetables, put them back on the burger, spit in the burger and cheerfully watched the chief eat it.”

Stephanie Robles, of Burnet, testified Monday that Perez, whom she had previously worked with at Schulze’s Restaurant in Burnet, told her he had contaminated the chief’s burger when she stopped by his residence during an afternoon walk. The two are neighbors.

“I went to bed that night asking myself about what would be the right thing to do,” she said. “I went to work, talked to my boss and asked him what he would do. …Then I called the chief and left a message.”

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