‘It was very theatrical, he pretended to faint and slumped himself down on the floor’
A man in Spain faked heart attacks in more than 20 restaurants as part of a theatrical effort to avoid paying the bill.
The 50-year-old expat, from Lithuania, would apparently often go to restaurants in the Costa Blanca region and treat himself to a meal.
But when it came to paying the bill, he pretended to have a heart attack, dramatically slumping on the floor.
The owner of one restaurant the man visited said he would order glasses of White Label whiskey to wash down a Russian salad before faking a heart attack.
The manager of another restaurant, El Buen Comer, said: “It was very theatrical, he pretended to faint and slumped himself down on the floor.
“We have sent his photo around to all the restaurants to try and stop him from striking again.”
The Sun reports that a photo of the man slumped on the floor was shared by the manager as a warning to other establishments about the man’s antics.
A worker at Sale&Pepe added: “We’ve all received a warning with his photo telling us to be careful and to not serve him anything.”
Another restaurant worker told El País: “He lay down on the floor, acted as if his chest hurt and began to shake.”
The man would even receive medical attention sometimes, and never paid for anything he ordered.
Despite being arrested on several occasions, he was released each time because each incident was only considered a “minor crime” due to the relatively small amounts of money involved.
But he has since been jailed for 42 days after refusing to pay two fines for his crimes.
And a group of restaurants have now joined forces to file a complaint which could see him spend up to two years behind bars.
A lawyer from firm Navarra Sancho told the Sun: “He has taken advantage of the legal system, with such small fines unpaid it’s difficult to achieve a longer sentence in prison.”
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