Police say a man in Charleston, Ill., ordered a lush meal — complete with appetizers, steak and lobster and drinks — at a restaurant, and then refused to pay the $70 bill.
Now, Anthony M. Malabehar has beensentenced to three years in jail.
Malabehar, 47, plead guilty to stealing from the restaurant on April 4, less than a month after pleading guilty to stealing from a different local restaurant, the Journal Gazette & Times-Courier reported.
Alex Schmink, Alamo Steak House’s general manager, told CNN that in the most recent incident, when Malabehar’s server asked him to pay the bill, he said “I need to tell you a secret. I don’t have any money.”
“He ordered a filet, snow crab, lobster pinches, snickers pie, two shots of rumple minz, and a Mike’s hard lemonade,” a spokeswoman for Alamo Steak House told ABC News.
Schmink then called the police, who brought Malabehar to Coles County jail just one day after he’d finished serving a 60-day sentence for the first incident.
Though thefts of that amount are usually misdemeanors, Malabehar was charged with a felony because of his criminal history. According to CNN, his record includes 13 convictions for theft or burglary and about 70 arrests for theft.
The 47-year-old never offered an explanation for why he repeatedly refused to pay restaurant tabs.
