Dine-and-dasher's date 'shocked' when she's left with $250 bill

Marjorie Moon thought her date was going really well. Until she was left footing the $250 bill.

She wasn't the first or the last woman that Paul Guadalupe Gonzales dined and dashed on. The 45-year-old serial date ditcher was arrested over the weekend and faces 13 years in prison after multiple women came forward alleging similar encounters with him.

Gonzales, charged with 10 felonies, including extortion and grand theft by at least eight women and two restaurants, pled not guilty. He's expected in court on September 7th.

Moon told As It Happens guest host Helen Mann she's looking forward to another date with him. This time in court.

Where did you meet this guy?

I met him on a dating site called Plenty of Fish. He wasn't necessarily my type but he seemed to be witty and charming so I kind of went with it and I started speaking to him.

What did you think when he asked you to dinner?

We had talked about food. He enjoyed his food. I told him about this nice steakhouse in Glendale, California. He asked me the next day to go with him. I hesitated at first and then decided I'd try and find a babysitter and met him there. He had said he was going to go with or without me so I decided 'why not?'

What did he order?

We ordered some wine and then he ordered a chicken dinner. They had a side of two lobster tails and he ordered that as well. And then once he was done with those he ordered two more lobster tails.

What's going through your mind besides this guy really likes lobster?

That I can't believe how small he is and he's putting all this food away!

So you eat the main course and then what happens?

He did excuse himself to use the restroom at one point but he did return to the table. And then he ordered a coffee and a chocolate souffle which took about 30 minutes to cook there. At which point, after a bit of conversation, he excused himself to make a phone call. That's when the maître d' at the restaurant noticed that he'd been gone and was concerned.

What did the maître d' say to you?

He asked me where he went. I told him that he had left to make a phone call to check on his children. He then went out front and came back and said the hostess had seen him leave.

I've never had anything like that happen before. I was just more embarrassed than shocked. The wait staff was amazing and wonderful. The waitress there actually cried. She felt so bad for me.

How much was the bill? Did she have reason to feel bad for you?

$250. It's a lot but I paid it. I just wanted to get home and get out of there. So I paid the bill and left and went home.

What was going through your mind after you left?

I called my best friend and we were both shocked that anything like that ever happened to me. The wait staff had said that I was so classy and elegant. They thought I'd seemed so nice. They couldn't believe it. They'd never seen anything like that happen before.

That's when my friend suggested I go to social media and post about my date with his photos. That's what went viral and started this whole thing off.

Had you thought the date was going okay before he took off?

Oh yeah. He was very touchy-feely. Hands on. He wanted to kiss me. He was drawing a lot of attention to us telling everyone how beautiful I was. [Saying] wasn't he lucky to be with me. So it seemed to be going very well.

After you posted on social media, when did you realize that you were not the only victim?

Women started coming forward and messaging me through Facebook Messenger saying 'Oh my gosh. I saw this through a friend of a friend and this happened to me as well but he used this name.' They recognized his photos. I had about 10 women contact me privately to thank me for coming forward and not being embarrassed and to put it out there that this man was doing this to women.

Does it feel better to know that you weren't the only one to fall prey to him?

Yeah I guess it does. In a way you have a camaraderie with the other women and you can understand each other. But you learn a lesson. You definitely learn to look back on the situation and be able to spot things and it makes dating different after you go through something like that.

• AS IT HAPPENS: Guy books 6 dates in 1 night. The women ditch him and become friends

How did the police get involved?

The news ended up contacting me out here in California. They ended up finding out that this man had also gone to beauty salons and done what they called a snip-and-ditch where he'd get his hair dyed and cut and walk out. He was already famous for that.

The detective on the case ended up contacting me a year later from the incident and had been working on trying to catch him for a while.

He's now entered a not guilty plea on some charges. Are you going to be having another date with him? This one in court.

Yes exactly. Because of the not guilty plea it'll go to trial and I will end up having another date with him. This will be a better one. It won't cost me $250.

Written by Bria John. Produced by Imogen Birchard. Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.