Dining and dashing is an illegal act most restaurants have dealt with at some point since their foundation. However, unlike the common strategy to run away after receiving the bill, a man in Spain came up with a much more elaborate scheme.
A 50-year-old man faked a heart attack to dodge paying the bill at 20 restaurants in Spain
Image credits: Pixabay
The 50-year-old conman named Aidas, originally from Lithuania, has dodged paying the bill at 20 Spanish restaurants by faking a heart attack.
His checks ranged from €15 to €70, restaurant owners reported, and would include meals like Russian salads and alcoholic drinks like White Label whiskey.
His modus operandi was to order several meals and simulate a heart condition by dramatically collapsing on the floor after the bill arrived
Image credits: Policía Nacional
Image credits: Policía Nacional
Aidas’ dramatic modus operandi was to order several meals and simulate a heart stroke by dramatically collapsing on the floor.
“He lay down on the floor, acted as if his chest hurt and began to shake,” a restaurant worker told El Pais before saying that the man went so far as to receive medical attention.
"It was very theatrical, he pretended to faint and slumped himself down on the floor,” the manager of restaurant El Buen Comer in the Valencian city of Alicante described to The Sun.
He even tried to scam the same restaurant, Alicante's El Buen Comer, twice—but the manager figured out a way to stop him
Image credits: El Buen Comer
Suspicious of his act, he managed to take a photo of the conman lying on the floor to warn fellow restaurant managers of his actions.
A staff member of restaurant Sale&Pepe, also in Alicante, confirmed: "We’ve all received a warning with his photo telling us to be careful and to not serve him anything."
The expat faked heart arrests for two months and didn’t pay a single euro for his meals, Caso Abierto reported.
Suspicious of his act, he managed to take a photo of the conman to warn fellow restaurateurs
Image credits: laSexta
Though he was arrested 20 times, he was released shortly after as his crimes were considered “minor” and the amount of money owed to the restaurants wasn’t substantial enough.
A lawyer from the firm Navarra Sancho explained: "He has taken advantage of the legal system, with such small fines unpaid it’s difficult to achieve a longer sentence in prison."
Aidas has been sentenced to 42 days in prison for failing to pay a series of fines that surpass €900
Image credits: Policía Nacional
Now, he has been put behind bars for 42 days for refusing to pay two fines.
But, with such a brief sentence, restaurateurs fear that he will resume his unlawful activities once he is released.
To prevent him from leaving prison so soon, the restaurant owners affected by his schemes are planning to file a joint complaint that would lock him away for two years.
Restaurant owners are planning to file a joint complaint to lock him away for two years
Image credits: laSexta
Newlyweds Moreno Priorietti, a 40-year-old contractor, and Andrea Svenja, his 25-year-old bride, tied the knot at the end of August in Frosinone, southeast Rome. After the ceremony, the couple put on a banquet for their 80 guests next to the venue’s pool.
The runaway pair had already paid a deposit of €3,300 and agreed to pay the remaining funds after the wedding.
Unfortunately, when the restaurant owner of Ristorante La Rotonda went to collect the bill the following day, he found that the couple had disappeared.
While some called Aidas a "hero," others disapproved of his scheme
