Dine-and-dash foiled when purses left at restaurant

Kathryn Wall

News-Leader

July 22, 2010

                                                                                                                                                          Three women skipped out on a $39 restaurant bill  by running out the door, but two of them are paying  a bigger price -- they forgot their purses.

Springfield police were called to the Waffle House at  3135 N. Glenstone because three women had run out on the check.

The general manager of the restaurant said the women came in around 6:15 Sunday morning.    He described the women as seemingly intoxicated or under the influence of drugs.  After about half an hour, the three women were handed a $39.31 bill.

The women then ran out the door, according to the manager, and into a gold Mitsubishi sedan. They left behind two purses. The manager called police and locked the purses in his office.

Not long after, one of the women returned and allegedly demanded the purses. The manager said  he told the woman she could wait until the police arrived. She didn't.

The police report indicates that identifying documents -- including what appeared to be a
check stub from another Waffle House in Arkansas -- were found in each of the purses.

The purses are now being kept in the police department's property room. No charges have been filed as of Wednesday