Kamloops RCMP is warning restaurants after an alleged string of "dine and dashes" occurred throughout the city.
According to social media posts, the Frick and Frack Taphouse, Earl's, Mittz Kitchen, and more may have been hit by the same culprit. The man in question allegedly ran up tabs over $100 and then refused to pay. He was described as Caucasian with a goatee and wore a "Vancouver" hat.
"A quick heads up to our fellow pubkeepers in downtown and Sahali," wrote Frick and Frack. "Have a good look at the winner pictured below. He came in early in the afternoon and sat at the bar till closing, amassing a beverage bill worth over 100 bucks. When the time came to pay his tab, he confessed he didn't have a penny in his pocket from the moment he walked through the front door."
Cpl. Jodi Shelkie explained that the best case of action in this scenario is to contact RCMP, noting that the restaurants haven't done this thus far.
"Often restaurants do just eat the money or eat the tabs themselves, but they can report it to the RCMP for sure," said Shelkie. "If they have a really good description, or if they have surveillance photos, we can put the photos within the detachment to see if any officers recognize who the person is."
Shelkie went on to say if restaurants experience dine and dashes, they need to mark down the customer's appearance and make sure not to serve them again.
"The best thing for a restaurant to do is, if a person has not paid for their bill, is to make sure that the person is not allowed back in their establishment. Have as many wait staff look at the person, know who the person is, or what they look like, and make it known that if they come back they're not welcomed in."
"Dine and dashes sometimes could be hundreds of dollars so that is a significant hit for some restaurants. It's something that we would definitely be interested in and definitely, if there could be some surveillance photos then that's the best way for us. Otherwise, it's really hard for us to gather any kind of evidence to determine who this person is."
