Baltimore 'Dine & Dasher' Accused Of Faking Seizures To Ditch Food Tab
BALTIMORE (WJZ)—A man is in jail for scheming Baltimore restaurants out of hundreds of dollars. Baltimore City Police have dubbed him the "Dine and Dasher" and say he does the unthinkable to get out of paying his tab.
Rochelle Ritchie reports the man has struck restaurants at the Inner Harbor multiple times.
Police say the man fakes a seizure to get out of paying his bill and has been doing this for three years.
Baltimore City Police have dubbed him the "Dine and Dasher," but his real name is Andrew Palmer. He likes a good meal but doesn't like footing the bill.
"Well, we've had a number of incidents involving a fraud scheme where an individual had pretended to be ill in order to not pay for his food," said Sgt. Sarah Connolly, Baltimore City Police.
Palmer's latest shenanigans happened just this Sunday at Turp's Sports Bar & Restaurant, where he ordered beer, a sub and pizza.
"We were getting all the money together to bring up to the office and he had no money to pay his bill. It was a $50 tab," said Jeri Shuck, Turps manager.
Once the bill came, the manager at Turps says Palmer told her a sob story about how three men robbed him prior to coming into the restaurant.
"And knowingly came to the restaurant and ordered $50 worth of stuff knowing that he had no money," Shuck said.
Palmer was arrested.
But Turps isn't the only restaurant snubbed. He has a palette for a more expensive taste too. Police say even the upscale steakhouse Sullivan's lost out on more than $150 after Palmer collapsed to ground pretending to have a seizure to avoid paying for the following tab:
- 4 Blue Moons
- 1 chicken piccata
- 1 split lobster
- 3 Bacardi lights
- 1 22 ounce ribeye steak
- 1 strawberry blonde
- 1 cup of coffee
The bill totaled more than $160.
Paramedics were called to the restaurant.
Police say he was taken to the hospital, where doctors found no evidence of a seizure.
Restaurant managers say when businesses are stiffed, the servers end up losing too.
"Sometimes when the table walks out on their bill, the server ends up having to pick up the tab," Shuck said.
Palmer has a long rap sheet with 90 arrests and has been found guilty of petty theft at least eight times.
He is now in jail. His meal behind bars comes with a $1,500 bail.
Many of Palmer's cases involve theft under $100, which carries a light penalty, and in some cases little to no jail time.
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