'Dine-and-dash' dater jailed for inviting women to restaurants and sneaking off without paying

'He doesn’t have to worry about any meals now; he’s gonna get three square meals a day'

A “dine-and-dash dater” who invited women out to restaurants before sneaking off without paying has been jailed for 120 days.

Paul Gonzales, 45, has also been banned from using dating apps and ordered to repay the Los Angeles eateries that he left out of pocket.

He pleaded no contest to fraud and petty theft charges.

Gonzales was arrested in August after police received complaints from 10 women who had met Gonzales online between May 2016 and April 2018.

The women said he offered to take them out for dinner before vanishing without paying following the meal. Eight were forced to foot the bill themselves.

Gonzales had initially faced felony charges of extortion and grand theft, which could have led to him being jailed for years.

But a judge in Pasadena ruled those charges were not “appropriate” and tried him only for three misdemeanour counts of defrauding an innkeeper by non-payment and one of petty theft.

Gonzales was sentenced to three years on probation following the completion of his jail term. He will be banned from using the Plenty of Fish website and Bumble dating app while on probation.

Gonzales was also ordered to repay a salon he had left without paying following a hair cut.

Two of the restaurants which he left without paying covered the cost themselves, said Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

At the others, Gonzales’s dates footed bills of up to $200 (£155).

“I felt humiliated a little bit,” said Martha Barba, who Gonzales had assured he would pay for their meal when he suggested eating at Houston’s, an upmarket restaurant in Pasadena.

She added: “He kept saying, ‘I got you. Order whatever you want. It’s on me. Don’t worry about it.' He ordered steak, wine, salad, just whatever you could order.”

Gonzales “mentioned something about Facetiming with his kids” after they ate, Ms Barba said. He went outside and did not return.

Another of his dates, abandoned by Gonzales in Mercado restaurant, joked after his arrest: “He doesn’t have to worry about any meals now; he’s gonna get three square meals a day.”