A man is facing 10 felony counts for allegedly going on dates with numerous women across Southern California before skipping out on the bill, authorities said.
Paul Guadalupe Gonzales, 45, of Pasadena, California, is accused of defrauding nearly $1,000 from a string of women he met mostly through dating apps and online from May 2016 through April.
He purportedly went to dinner with them at restaurants in Pasadena, Long Beach, Burbank and Los Angeles, where he ordered food and drinks then allegedly left before the waiter brought the check, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Gonzales has come to be known as the “dine-and-dash dater,” the DA’s office said.
Eight women wound up footing the entire bill themselves, including one who believed that Gonzales would pay her back, according to the DA’s office. The restaurants picked up the check for two other women, prosecutors said.
In a separate and unrelated incident, Gonzales allegedly received services from a hair salon in April and left without paying, prosecutors said. The three businesses are among the victims named in the felony complaint.
Authorities obtained an arrest warrant on July 3 and arrested Gonzales in Pasadena on Aug. 25. He pleaded not guilty to a dozen counts at his arraignment Monday at the Pasadena Courthouse of the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
His bail was set at $315,000, prosecutors said.
Gonzales is facing seven counts of extortion, two counts of attempted extortion and one count of grand theft — all felonies — as well as two misdemeanor counts each of defrauding an innkeeper and petty theft, according to the complaint.
If convicted of all charges, he could spend up to 13 years behind bars in state prison.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 7 in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, prosecutors said.
A Los Angeles County public defender who represented Gonzales at his arraignment did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment Thursday.
The Pasadena Police Department is investigating the case.
