Summer may be winding down, but scamming season is still in full effect. After Boricua Natasha Aponte went viral for inviting a bunch of dudes on a mass Hunger Games-style date, we thought we had seen the scamming apex, but a man from Pasadena has just proven that there are more scams to be had. For 45-year-old Paul Guadalupe Gonzales, dating sites became a way to score several free meals.
Between May 2016 to April 2018, Paul, aka the “dine-and-dash dater,” went on several dates and he skipped out when it came time to pay the bill. Instead of paying his share of the check, he’d tell his dates that he was going to the bathroom or going to his car to retrieve a phone charger, and he’d just leave stick them with the bill. In eight instances, the women paid the amount themselves, but two other times, the restaurants were out of the money. He defrauded eight people out of about $950, according to NBC Los Angeles.
He was arrested on July 3. On Monday, he pleaded not guilty to extortion, grand theft, and other charges. He will return to court on September 7 for a preliminary, which will determine whether there’s enough evidence to go to trial. If convicted, he could face up to 13 years in prison.