WASHINGTON • Ms Meagan Flynn Marjorie Moon's date with Paul Guadalupe Gonzales at a swanky Los Angeles restaurant in 2016 was going fine.

That is, until he disappeared.

Gonzales was charming at first, if not a little fawning, Ms Moon said. She met him online through dating site Plenty of Fish and they hit it off, swopping pictures of their kids and sharing their appreciation for good food.

On their first date, she realised he was not kidding: Gonzales ordered two entrees - a chicken dish and four lobster tails, she said. He also ordered expensive wine and then a souffle for dessert.

And then, he told her he had to go make a phone call. Ms Moon thought he was on the call for a long time, and asked the waiter if he had seen her date.

Yes, the waiter said - her date left. "I couldn't believe it," Ms Moon told The Washington Post.

"I just handed (the waiter) my credit card and said 'I just want to go home'. After footing the US$250 (S$342) bill, "I was out the door", she added.

Ms Moon is one of at least eight known women who allegedly ended up footing the bill after police say Gonzales, 45, invited them out to dinner via online dating but then ditched them before the meal was over, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office said on Monday.

Gonzales, known as the "serial dine-and-dasher" in local media, was arrested this week on 10 felony charges over the incidents between May 2016 and April this year. In addition to the eight women, two restaurants are also listed as victims as they picked up the tab.

Gonzales has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of extortion, two counts of attempted extortion and one count of grand theft, accused of cheating his dates out of more than US$950. He faces a maximum penalty of 13 years in prison.

According to the district attorney's office, Gonzales is also suspected of skipping out on the bill at a hair salon. He was caught on video leaving the salon with wet dye still in his hair and still wearing the salon's smock, CBS reported in 2016.

WASHINGTON POST