He took off without paying for his steakhouse dinner, but a cop tracked him down

The guy was bald and thin. He was apparently hungry. On New Year’s Day about 6 p.m., he ordered about $35 worth of food to go at the LongHorn Steakhouse on Riverside Drive in north Macon. While he waited, he had a beer at the bar. When the manager there brought out the man’s meal, he said he had forgotten his credit card and left to retrieve it. When he returned, according a Bibb County sheriff’s report of the episode, he asked the bartender for some steak sauce. When the bartender went to get the sauce, the man grabbed his food and left. Someone saw him drive off in Chevy Tahoe and later told a sheriff’s deputy its license plate number. The deputy used it and found the guy’s house off Forest Hill Road. The man “initially stated no one had driven the car recently,” the deputy’s write-up noted. “However, I asked him if he went to LongHorn and he stated he did. … He stated he ordered a take-out meal, paid, and left. He stated he was given the food and told ‘thank you.’ … (He) gave me a receipt but it was the ‘amount to be paid’ bill and not an actual receipt. … (He) continually grew agitated and evasive.” The guy was arrested on a theft charge. He was also wanted in Laurens County for a probation violation.

This story was originally published January 18, 2017 at 1:00 AM with the headline "He took off without paying for his steakhouse dinner, but a cop tracked him down."