A 47-year-old man was arrested on Thursday, Sept. 4 after eating and drinking his way to a nearly $400 bill at a restaurant, then fleeing the establishment without paying.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to the restaurant in the 1600 block of Ocean Avenue at 6:19 pm on this day in order to investigate a dine and run incident.
The officers were informed that Harbor Patrol Officers had been notified and were presently following the suspect north on Ocean Avenue by foot.
The officers were then informed that the suspect had mounted a MTA bus and so they performed a traffic stop on the bus and detained the suspect.
The officers then met with an employee of the restaurant who told them that this man had entered the restaurant and taken a seat at a table and ordered wine valued at $200.
The employee added that the man had told restaurant staff that he was waiting for his wife, a plausible scenario they concluded.
The man then ordered food for himself, including a grilled lobster dish that was priced at $102 alone.
Eventually the man was presented with the bill that by that time totaled $394.20.
The employee said that the man looked at the bill, placed it on his table, and covered it with a napkin.
An employee then enquired about the bill and the man told the employee that his wife had his credit card (still plausible?).
The employee then asked the man how he intended to settle the bill (let alone his stomach one would assume) and at that the man arose and left the restaurant. It was then that the police were called.
This 47-year-old resident of an undisclosed location was arrested and charged with defrauding an innkeeper. Bail was set at $500.
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.
