A conman faked having a heart attack to dodge paying the bill.
The man known as Aidas J, a Lithuanian who lives in Spain, scammed 20 restaurants in the city of Alicante before he was jailed.
During his performances, he would drop to the floor and clutch his chest in feigned agony.
The manager of El Buen Comer said that it was all very theatrical. He pretended to faint and slumped himself down on the floor.
Aidas even asked for medical attention for his fake heart problems and was only found out when he tried his routine twice at El Buen Comer.
Another restaurant worker told Spanish newspaper El Pais that he laid down on the floor, acted as if his chest hurt and began to shake.
As part of his act, Aidas dressed in ‘designer clothes’, according to local police, and pretended to be a Russian tourist who didn’t speak Spanish.
The manager of El Buen Comer sent Aidas’ picture to another restaurant in the region to warn them and to prevent the conman from striking again.
Another restaurant owner targeted by Aidas said he had ordered several glasses of expensive whiskey, a Russian salad and a main dish like entrecote or lobster before he faked the heart attack.
The trickster has now been jailed for 42 days after he refused two fines he received for his theatrics. As each bill he skipped was considered a small amount – ranging from €15 to €70 (£13-£60), Aidas only committed ‘minor crimes’.
His crime spree went on for two months, during which he was arrested several times but let go because he only owed a small amount to each restaurant.
However, the proprietors of the scammed restaurants want to file a joint complaint to get the conman locked away for longer.
The dine-and-dash incidents amount to €766 (£666) in combined bills.
Emergency services were presumably called, so he also needed to be held accountable for wasting their time and resources that someone who really needed could have had.
The man that cried wolf and when he really needs emergency services they won’t come in time, that’s what you get for telling fibs.
How could anyone enjoy their meal knowing they’re going to carry out this kind of palaver? I’d rather stay at home and have a Pot Noodle, but then I suppose it’s difficult to imagine the depths people will sink to.
Isn’t immigration just amazing, now we get complimentary theatre with them as well, and this is just a brazen insult to people who have had heart attacks, and all to get a free meal out of it?
Why on earth would anyone bother doing something as tragic as this? It seems far too much work and I’d rather pay the bill than give an Oscar-winning performance!
There are con artists everywhere, in every part of the world, and it’s such a shame that the punishment that was dished out didn’t match the sentence he should have got. Jailing him for 42 months instead of 42 days might have taught him something, but because this sentencing was so indulgent, it would teach him nothing.
He should then be deported back to Lithuania. That would have sent a far stronger message, but in 42 days he’ll be back on the streets pulling the same old stunt again, and in the meantime he’s in prison, being fed for free – the judge must have walked into that one!
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 