Santa Monica police arrested a 70-year-old woman on Wednesday, Sept. 18 after consuming a meal at a high-end Santa Monica restaurant without paying then fleeing in a cab that she couldn’t pay for either. She was arrested after the taxicab driver returned her to the restaurant where police were waiting.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to the Blue Plate Taco restaurant at 1515 Ocean Avenue at about 3:30 pm on this day in order to investigate a case of a woman who had consumed food (presumably a large quantity of tacos) to the value of $65.70 and had left the location without paying for the meal.
Upon arrival at the restaurant the officers spoke with witnesses and were told what had allegedly happened.
These witnesses said the woman had consumed her meal, left the premises, and hailed a taxicab that she had then entered.
According to the taxicab driver they had driven around Santa Monica without a particular destination in mind, and this had eventually aroused the suspicions of the taxicab driver who had decided to drive the woman back to the restaurant.
The woman told the taxicab driver that she did not have the $41.25 fare and so the police were called.
The officers arrested this woman (place of residence unknown at time of going to press) and she was charged with defrauding an innkeeper.
Bail was set at $10,000.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of the Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
