Ryan Daniel Goff, 20, was arraigned Thursday on an attempted extortion count. He laughed and smiled as District Judge Thomas Phillips read the charge.
"I don't recall seeing anything like this before," Grand Traverse County prosecutor Alan Schneider told the Traverse City Record-Eagle. "It was pretty ill-conceived from the beginning."
The sheriff's department said that while eating at the restaurant Jan. 24, Goff complained to an employee that his burrito tasted "funny."
Goff declined a replacement burrito and insisted on keeping his when he left, investigators said.
He later called Taco Bell's regional manager, Robert Buckle, and said he wanted "something that would make my ears tingle" to settle the matter, court documents said.
"There was an implied threat there to the regional manager, and that is why we charged this as an attempt," Schneider said.
He said Goff's girlfriend told an investigator that she was with Goff when he bought frozen mice at a pet store and saw him place one in the burrito.
Goff already was in jail on unrelated charges Thursday, but Phillips boosted his bond to $100,000 after his arraignment on the felony charge, punishable by up to five years in prison.
County jail spokesman Lt. Dennis "Buck" Monroe said Friday that inmates were not allowed to grant interviews.
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