--- title: Dine and Dash Criminal Faked Seizures to Get Free Meals description: It's finally time to pay the tab canonical: https://time.com/2812524/serial-dine-and-dasher-gets-5-year-sentence-for-faking-seizures-to-get-out-of-paying-bill/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-03T13:00:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:16.299Z og:title: Serial Dine And Dasher Gets 5-Year Sentence For Faking Seizures To Get Out Of Paying Bill og:description: It's finally time to pay the tab og:url: https://time.com/2812524/serial-dine-and-dasher-gets-5-year-sentence-for-faking-seizures-to-get-out-of-paying-bill/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00b19be88dc7224f/69868d533bc99909a81a33c2/80991995.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5700 og:image:height: 3206 og:image:alt: handcuff og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Serial Dine And Dasher Gets 5-Year Sentence For Faking Seizures To Get Out Of Paying Bill twitter:description: It's finally time to pay the tab twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00b19be88dc7224f/69868d533bc99909a81a33c2/80991995.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Serial Dine And Dasher Gets 5-Year Sentence For Faking Seizures To Get Out Of Paying Bill > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=298d0a5f-7dcd-451d-86a8-f57911ab88e2&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 3, 2014 1:00 PM UTC  Handcuffs Handcuffs Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 3, 2014 1:00 PM UTC Andrew Palmer was really good at his hobby. Unfortunately, his hobby was faking seizures to get out of paying his tab at Baltimore’s finest dining establishments. It was a crime that Palmer committed again and again, year after year, earning himself quite a reputation around town, eventually becoming known by police and paramedics. Once people caught on to his scheme —restaurants started posting his picture on their walls — he was arrested multiple times. However, Palmer was wily and made sure that the bills he wracked up were never over $100\. The maximum sentence for crimes under that cut-off is 90 days, For some reason, _that_ was a price Palmer was willing to pay, again and again. According to the Baltimore City Paper, since 1985, Palmer has been [arrested more than 80 times,](http://www.baltimorefishbowl.com/stories/baltimores-seizure-faking-restaurant-scammer/#more-7519) and convicted more than 40, but he kept on dining and dashing. “I said, ‘We have to get this guy more than 90 days. That just doesn’t faze him,'” Assistant State’s Attorney Scott Richman [told the _Baltimore Sun_](http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-ci-dine-and-dasher-gets-prison-20140530,0,2355465,full.story). His long crime spree may have finally drawn to a close on Friday, though, when District Judge Theodore B. Oshrine handed down a five year sentence for his latest caper, where he was charged with leaving an unpaid $89 bill on the table at a restaurant last fall. Palmer received the sentence of five years when prosecutors successfully argued that while his crime was under $100, it was also under $1,000\. By designating the crime as “under $1,000”, the judge was able to dole out a stiffer penalty. Public defenders are appealing the verdict. Palmer was sentenced to 5 years in prison, plus a five-year suspended sentence that will kick in if he repeats his bad behavior during his three year probation period. \[Via [Baltimore Sun](http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-ci-dine-and-dasher-gets-prison-20140530,0,4709055.story#ixzz33VnU1dYH)\] **MORE**: [The Diarrhea Defense: Woman Blames Bowel Movement For Hit-and-Run](http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/02/05/the-diarrhea-defense-woman-blames-bowel-movement-for-hit-and-run/) **MORE**: [Philadelphia Gas Station Robbers Sell Discounted Gas to Public](http://time.com/89731/robbers-gas-discount/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2812524/serial-dine-and-dasher-gets-5-year-sentence-for-faking-seizures-to-get-out-of-paying-bill/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2812524/serial-dine-and-dasher-gets-5-year-sentence-for-faking-seizures-to-get-out-of-paying-bill/"},"headline":"Serial Dine And Dasher Gets 5-Year Sentence For Faking Seizures To Get Out Of Paying Bill","datePublished":"2014-06-03T13:00:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:16.299Z","description":"It's finally time to pay the tab","url":"https://time.com/2812524/serial-dine-and-dasher-gets-5-year-sentence-for-faking-seizures-to-get-out-of-paying-bill/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Crime","baltimore"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00b19be88dc7224f/69868d533bc99909a81a33c2/80991995.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00b19be88dc7224f/69868d533bc99909a81a33c2/80991995.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"handcuff","caption":"Handcuffs","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2812524/serial-dine-and-dasher-gets-5-year-sentence-for-faking-seizures-to-get-out-of-paying-bill/","name":"Serial Dine And Dasher Gets 5-Year Sentence For Faking Seizures To Get Out Of Paying Bill"}}]}] ```