Serial 'Dine & Dash Dater' Is Now Facing Extortion & Grand Theft Felony Charges for His 'Free' Dates

It’s no secret that being stood up on dates is a serious bummer, but what about being ditched and left with the bill? For a bunch of women in the Los Angeles area, that nightmare is a reality.

According to police, serial dine-and-dasher Paul Guadalupe Gonzalez has been taking women on seriously expensive dates and then leaving them to foot the bill. He has allegedly done this with eight women, and is now facing felony charges including extortion, attempted extortion and grand theft. In total, he has allegedly cost victims more than $950, and if he is convicted will face up to 13 years in prison.  

One woman, Marjorie Moon, told Buzzfeed News about her date with Gonzalez. She says the date was going well, with Gonzalez ordering a huge meal including wine, a roasted chicken and four lobster tails. “Then he excused himself to make a phone call and that’s when he didn’t come back,” she says. “It was about five minutes when I started saying, ‘I don’t know, something isn’t right to me.”

The restaurants staff confirmed that Gonzalez had actually left the restaurant and Moon was forced to pay the $250 bill on her own.

Another woman, identified as only Michelle, spoke to CBS Los Angeles about her disastrous encounter with Gonzalez as well. After ordering a salad, shrimp and filet mignon and racking up a $150 bill, Gonzalez ditched the restaurant. “All of a sudden he’s all, oh, my phone’s dying and I’m waiting on the call from my mom about my aunt. I’m going to go to the car to get my charger and then my first comment to him when he got up was oh what, you’re not coming back?,” Michelle said.

Apparently these dates have been going on since 2016, when Moon first posted her story on Facebook and it went viral. Since then the police have been looking for Gonzalez, now dubbed the “Dine and Dash Dater,” and have just now apprehended him. He has plead not guilty to all charges against him.

Gonzalez is being held on $315,000 bail and his preliminary hearing is set for September 7th.

We just have one question for you Gonzalez: Were the eight free meals really worth that much?