Los Angeles County prosecutors filed four new felony charges Friday against a 45-year-old man accused of taking financial advantage of women he met through online dating sites by taking them to dinner and dashing out without paying his share of the bill.
Paul Guadalupe Gonzales — who was dubbed the alleged “Dine-and-Dash Dater” — pleaded not guilty to the four new counts of extortion.
The 45-year-old man is awaiting a hearing next Tuesday in a Pasadena courtroom to determine if there is enough evidence to require him to stand trial.
Gonzales was charged July 3 with seven other counts of extortion, two counts of attempted extortion, all felonies, along with two misdemeanor counts of defrauding an innkeeper and one misdemeanor count of petty theft.
Prosecutors dismissed two other charges — one felony count of grand theft and one misdemeanor count of petty theft — that had initially been filed against him.
The criminal complaint alleges that the crimes occurred between May 2016 and April 2018.
“Here, the defendant frequented restaurants with the intent of ordering expensive meals without paying for them,” according to a court filing by Deputy District Attorney Michael Fern. “Rather than simply `dine and dash’ on the restaurant’s dime, he set up a third party to take the fall.”
The prosecution’s filing alleges that Gonzales’ “modus operandi” involved befriending a woman on an online dating website or service, asking her to accompany him to a restaurant under the guise of a `date,’ feigning an excuse to leave the table and “exiting the restaurant and leaving the woman behind, so that she would end up with the restaurant bill and pay it out of fear of embarrassment or shame.”
The court filing alleges that the bills — from restaurants in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Pasadena — ranged from almost $81 to approximately $250.
Gonzales allegedly told his dates that he was headed to the men’s room or out to retrieve a phone charger from his car, among other excuses, before leaving a restaurant without paying any of the bill.
Eleven women allegedly ended up paying the bills themselves — one in the belief that the defendant was going to pay her back, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
In two other instances, the restaurants picked up the check after Gonzales allegedly left without paying anything, according to the prosecutor. Those businesses are also named as victims in the criminal complaint.
The defendant also allegedly received a haircut and color treatment from a Pasadena salon in April and left without paying, according to the court filing.
Gonzales faces a possible maximum penalty of 16 years and ten months in prison if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
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