L.A. Man Accused Of Dine-And-Dashing On Women He Met On Dating Apps Is Facing 13 Years In The Clink

dinner table at restaurant

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For 6 months, a Los Angeles man has been *allegedly* meeting women on dating apps, going out to dinner, and then bouncing before it came time to pay the check.

This went on repeatedly and women all over Los Angeles got stuck with fat dinner checks. The accused is 45-year-old Paul Gonzales and he now faces up to 13 years in prison and 10 felony counts according to a report from KTLA.

Gonzales allegedly feasted on free wine and steaks over the course of his food heist spree before the police finally caught up to him. A warrant went out for his arrest in early July and now, finally, Gonzales is in custody—and he’s facing felony charges of theft and extortion, KTLA reports.

“He’s a very, very handsome man,” one of Gonzales’s dates told CBS LA during an interview earlier this year. “His eyes are absolutely gorgeous.” (via VICE)

According to VICE, this dude first started making headlines back in March of this year but he’s allegedly been pulling off this maneuver dating back to 2016.

The LA County DA’s office said “From May 2016 through April 2018, Gonzales is accused of taking financial advantage of women he met mostly through dating apps and websites.” And while I’m 100% on the side of these women who got stuck with the beal I don’t fully understand the explicit breaking of the law here.

When you meet someone on a first date what legal protections are in place to say that the bill must be split 50-50? Tradition dictates that men often pick up the check, or at least offer to pick it up. More often than not the bill gets split. But when you sit down with someone for a meal is there a binding contract that all parties must pay for their parts of the meal? Someone drop some knowledge on me in the comments.

The D.A.’s office said he ran up a tab over $950 across 8 women even though a few of the restaurants picked up the bill after realizing what had happened.

I’ve never dined-and-dashed. I’m not a complete asshole.

I’ve been in restaurants several times when it’s gone down and watched as the server just stood there, completely pissed off that they’d just been screwed out of a tip and left to clean up a dirty table left by a bunch of assholes.

I grew up in a restaurant family and the idea of tipping under 20% let alone running out on a bill is absolutely unfathomable. So I’m curious what led this man to a point in life where he thought it’d be a good idea to meet women on dating apps and then sprint out on the bill.

Don’t be that guy. Don’t run out on a bill and be a complete asshole.

It doesn’t take a lot of effort to be a decent human being. If you’ve forgotten your wallet the restaurant will understand 99.999% of the time. Go back and pay them. Don’t stiff someone else because you’re an asshole.

(h/t VICE)