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Going on a date usually harbours hopes that the person sitting across from you could steal your heart. But one Los Angeles man made a habit of stealing much more.

Paul Gonzales, 45, is accused of taking “financial advantage” of at least 10 women, whom he largely met online or on dating apps, between May 2016 and April 2018. If convicted, he could face up to 13 years in prison.

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Dubbed the “dine-and-dash dater,” Gonzales is alleged to have repeatedly gone out for drinks and dinner with women, and mysteriously disappeared just before the bill arrived leaving the women to pay. Prosecutors say that he defrauded women of more than US $950.

He pleaded not guilty to extortion, grand theft and other charges on Aug. 27, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

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Eight of the 10 women said they were made to pay the restaurant bill, while two others say the restaurant waived the charges. The dates took place in establishments in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Long Beach and Burbank. In a separate incident, he is also accused of receiving services from a hair salon and leaving without paying.

One of his dates, who is identified only as Michelle, said to CBS that she was “ecstatic” over the news.

“I think justice is served. I hope he gets what he deserved.”

Another, named Hunter, seemed to point out the irony of the situation.

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“He doesn’t have to worry about any meals now; he’s gonna get three square meals a day,” she joked.

Gonzales faces seven counts of extortion, two counts of attempted extortion and one count of grand theft, all of which are felonies, as well as two misdemeanour counts each of defrauding an innkeeper and petty theft.

This is not the first time his dine-and-dash antics have made headlines. In 2016, one woman told KCAL9 about being stiffed for more than US$100 worth of food, including two entrees that Gonzales ordered for himself.

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“This guy is obnoxious,” she said. “First of all, who orders two entrees? But he excused it by saying he was a bodybuilder.”

At the time, the woman (who chose to remain anonymous) had come forward after hearing about a similar case that same month.

Almost a year later, another unnamed woman spoke to the KCAL9 and said that Gonzales had also left her in the lurch on a blind date.

She said he ordered “[a] glass of Pinot, a Caesar salad with a side of shrimp, a steak and a baked potato.”

“He left maybe half a baked potato and then received a phone call and said, ‘I need to take this call.’”

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But he never returned.

“I was shocked that anybody would do this. And I even texted him, ‘Is everything OK?’ And obviously he never responded,” she said.

The Pasadena restaurant was kind enough to waive the charges of Gonzales’s meal, save for the glass of wine.

He is currently being held on US$315,000 bail and a preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 7 at the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Pasadena Branch.

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