It took police awhile, but they finally found a way to stop a 64-year-old Norwegian man from eating and drinking in Oslo-area restaurants and then claiming he couldn’t pay the bill. Now he’s behind bars.
He’d been exploiting a law that only requires those who can’t pay their restaurant bill to reveal their identity and contact information to police. After that he could walk out of the restaurant as a free man.
His game was up when a prosecutor for the Oslo Police realized the serial swindler could be held in custody because the danger of repeating his crime was high. After dining well at the popular St Lars restaurant at Bislett in mid-February, and then claiming he had no money or credit cards, police could prove he’d done the same thing at least six times earlier.
They arrested him and he’s since been sentenced to 60 days in prison after he confessed to fraud. “Even though we’ve moved away from serving only bread and water, he’ll likely find the food on offer quite a bit simpler when the state is paying the bill,” Tor Jøkling, operations leader for the Oslo Police, told newspaper Aftenposten.
The defendant, who has not been identified in line with Norwegian press practice, said he couldn’t pay his restaurant bills because he has debt trouble and simply doesn’t have enough money for food.
newsinenglish.no staff
