Restaurant’s Clever Facebook Post Helps Police Nab Dine-and-Dasher
A man in Reno, Nevada who pulled a dine-and-dash on a $100 bill won't get the book thrown at him so much as he will get the Facebook thrown at him.
Thanks to an aggressive campaign launched on Facebook, Saul Zelaznog was recently arrested after he skipped out on a $100 bill at Brewer's Cabinet restaurant.
Employees were incensed that Zelaznog bailed on the bill, so they put his photo on the restaurant’s Facebook page as a way to warn other eateries in the area about him.
A post about his actions said "And, while you're at it, you could tell him that visiting restaurants with your friends, running up a huge bill, roughing up servers and then bailing is pretty uncool ... pathetic, really," the post reads. "Get a life, man."
The post was shared nearly 900 times and helped identify Zelaznog. Other restaurants in Reno said he’s pulled a similar scam on them before, although he claims what happened at Brewer’s Cabinet was an unfortunate accident and that he planned to go back to pay his debt, noting, “I’m not trying to burn bridges around town. This is a small little town.”
It’s unclear how police tracked him down, although it is known that he was hauled in for violating his probation.
Watch a report about the hunt for Zelaznog before he was apprehended.