“Dine and Dasher”, an alias given to Andrew Palmer, a 46 year old man in the Baltimore area, notorious for acquiring food and drink tabs at local restaurants, and then faking seizures to escape paying the bill. Just this Monday, Palmer was arrested after refusing to pay a $50 bill at Viccino Jay’s Italian Gourmet, a local restaurant in the area. The night before, Palmer “went limp” at Oliver Speck’s, an upscale restaurant, when it was time to pay his $90 tab. Once the paramedics arrived, the seemed everything but surprised, by pleading “Come on Andy, stop faking.”
Officials say that Palmer has turned getting arrested into a career, with over 90 arrests and 8 of them, petty theft in the past year. Unfortunately, Palmers actions are petty crimes, that doesn’t carry a large enough penalty to sentence him to extensive jail time. In January, Palmer refused to pay a $`160 tab, which landed him a one year sentence in jail; he was out by July. That same month, Palmer had another “seizure” after being confronted with a $72 bill; the charges were dropped, however a few days later he received a citation for another theft charge and was sentenced to 90 days in jail.
Restaurant owners are growing frustrated with the justice system and the fact that there seems to be nothing that can be done about the compulsive “Dine and Dasher”, especially if the thought of going to jail fails to evoke fear out of them. During the summer, Palmer was arrested 3 times over 7 days; two of those charges included making a false call requiring an ambulance response. Palmer is currently in jail,