Guilty verdict for former employee of Jacksonville company that works with Jaguars and Taylor Swift

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A man who took a TendedBar machine offline after demanding the company make him a full partner with the company is now facing prison time.

James Puckett was found guilty by a Duval County jury of destroying intellectual property, according to a news release from the office of State Attorney Melissa Nelson.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

TendedBar, which is headquartered in Jacksonville, is a system that makes and serves drinks without a human server at places like Everbank Stadium and is also being used on Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour.

Puckett was hired by TendedBar in December 2018 to assist in the development of the machines and “was paid a salary and given equity in the company,” the news release said.

Read: St. Augustine Beach ocean pier no longer reaches ocean after beach renourishment

He “also signed a confidentiality and nondisclosure agreement to protect the company’s intellectual property,” and “signed the sole rights to TendedBar for the invention along with his work that went into it,” the release said.

During 2020, the company was asking Puckett for “a tangible copy or production of the machines’ source code” that was developed by the company’s whole team. The code controlled the operation of the machines, the news release said.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

In 2021, the company signed an agreement with the Jacksonville Jaguars to have eight TendedBar machines in the stadium. The machines were set to go live Sept. 19, 2021, the day of the Jags’ 2021 season home opener against the Denver Broncos.

“Days before, Puckett called TendedBar leadership and argued about the source code; he refused to provide it unless he was named Chief Technology Officer and made an equal partner with the company by the end of the day,” the news release said.

Company leaders knew Puckett had remote access to the machines, so they instructed employees to unplug all the machines at the stadium and “at the nearby arena to take them offline and prevent remote access,” the release said.

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Staff discovered that one machine became “inoperable mere minutes after Puckett made his demands,” according to the news release.

Investigators found that Puckett signed into the machine and deleted files, the State Attorney’s Office said. He was subsequently arrested.

Puckett faces up to five years in prison and is set to be sentenced by Judge Anthony Salem at a later date.

Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.