Registered sex offender, Ga. McDonald’s manager accused of getting 15-year-old employee pregnant

LOGANVILLE, Ga. — A former manager at McDonald’s is accused of getting a teenage worker pregnant. He is a registered sex offender.

Investigators say Jamira Sampson worked for a McDonald’s in Loganville.

Channel 2′s investigative reporter Mark Winne spoke exclusively with the victim’s mom who is suing the fast food restaurant.

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Lawyer Mel Hewitt said he filed a lawsuit for a now-16-year-old. He said she needs the money, now that she has a baby by a former McDonald’s manager and convicted sex offender who allegedly fathered the child when the young woman was underage.

Hewitt says he also hopes the lawsuit can prevent this from happening to someone else.

“My heart broke in so many places and in so many ways,” the victim’s mother said.

The mom, who asked not to be identified, said her daughter was excited to suit up in the uniform of a McDonald’s employee at just 15 years old.

“I was infuriated. I thought he was vetted but come to find out, he was a registered sex offender,” the mom said.

The suit is against McDonald’s, USA, LLC, and a Delaware foreign corporation.

It alleges McDonald’s employees across the country, many of them teenagers, are telling stories of routine and severe sexual harassment and abuse.

“There’s a number of these cases around the country,” Hewitt said.

In Aug. 2021, the then 15-year-old started working at the Loganville McDonald’s.

The suit suggests she was subordinate to Sampson, who she understood was a manager trainee or supervisor.

Sampson is on both Georgia and Florida sex offender sites. The Florida entry lists lewd or lascivious molestation victims 12-15 years old and what appears to be lewd lascivious battery and sex with victims 12-15 years old.

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Hewitt says Sampson was convicted years before he was hired by the Loganville McDonald’s and he was on the sex offender registry when hired.

The suit suggests that Sampson allegedly began sexually assaulting her at the workplace, in the parking area, and in other locations off the Loganville McDonald’s property.

“He began grooming her like a lot of these sex offenders do and ended up getting what certainly everyone is going to claim is consensual sex. But she’s 15 years old. She’s not legally able to consent. She cannot in the state of Georgia,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt said the young woman, became pregnant by Sampson and eventually had the baby.

“I have a beautiful grandson,” the mom said.

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McDonald’s senior vice president and chief people officer, Tiffanie Boyd, in a statement to Channel 2 Action News said:

“There is simply no place under the golden arches for the type of conduct alleged in this complaint, and it is deeply troubling to us all. As a leader within this company, I know how important it is that every restaurant fosters a culture of safety and care. As a mother whose child has proudly worked at our local McDonald’s, I feel this on a very personal level. Like our franchisees, we understand that it is essential for every employee to feel safe, respected, and included. Last year, McDonald’s implemented its global brand standards, where all restaurants worldwide are assessed and held accountable to a set of standards addressing topics like harassment prevention and workplace safety. The introduction of these standards was a critical step in protecting every person working at a McDonald’s restaurant.”

A statement from Bruce Bineyard, McDonald’s owner/operator of Loganville states:

“The allegations made in this lawsuit are disturbing, and this employee no longer works at our restaurant. My organization has always tried to be a place where everyone feels safe and respected when they come to work. We hold safe and respectful workplace training, and we always have an open door for employees to raise concerns. Providing a safe, respectful, and inclusive workplace is critically important to us.”

By phone, Winne reached a person who indicated he was Jamira Sampson. He suggested he can’t say whether McDonald’s knew about his background, but an individual who got him hired at the McDonald’s did know.

He said the allegations that said he messed with a young woman at the job, where there were cameras are a lie.

Sampson indicated he did work as an assistant manager at McDonald’s in Loganville but he ended up leaving McDonald’s because allegations were going around about him and two young women and considering his background, he did not want to risk getting in trouble.

He suggested a young girl who worked at the Loganville McDonald’s lied to him about her age, telling him she was 17 but he did not have a relationship with her or anyone underage.

He says although there are two charges listed in the lawsuit, both came from one case and he’s been hard-working and has stayed law-abiding since his release from prison.

Loganville Police Chief Dick Lowry said his department has an open criminal investigation pertaining to a juvenile female whose mother reported her juvenile daughter was pregnant by a registered sex offender who worked with the daughter at the Loganville McDonald’s.

Sampson told Winne he served eight and a half years in prison in Florida because he admitted to something he didn’t do to protect a relative.

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