The infamous dine-and-dasher known around SF as “Jared” was arrested and detained for once again skipping on a bill, though he has since been released, and bartenders be warned that he is currently a free man.

San Francisco bartenders have been talking for a number of months about an alleged prolific dine-and-dash offender known simply as “Jared,” but the local media just caught wind of this chatter last week. A late December Reddit thread showed dozens of comments from those saying they worked in the service industry and had many times encountered the so-called “Jared’s” bill-skipping ways. Someone even posted a map from a private Facebook group of bartenders, detailing more than three dozen SF establishments where Jared had supposedly left without paying his bills.  


But last week, the Chronicle reported that the man known as “Jared” had been arrested for not paying at a San Bruno restaurant. That arrest was reportedly on Tuesday, December 31, just before 1:30 pm at the Red Lobster on El Camino Real in San Bruno. That was on New Year’s Eve, so news of his arrest may have made it to SF bartenders in time for the New Year’s celebrations.

The Chronicle did not publish the suspect's name, saying “his connection to additional incidents isn’t established.” Though a separate SF Standard report from Friday notes that the arrest report confirms him as 36-year-old Jared Scott of San Mateo, and that the “additional incident” described as a previous January 2024 charge for skipping on a $191 meal bill at San Mateo’s Pausa Bar & Cookery.

Jared has been detained
byu/OkayHi22 insanfrancisco


The Tuesday arrest was for Scott allegedly not paying a $124.63 bill at the San Bruno Red Lobster. Scott was arrested and detained on “suspicion of defrauding an innkeeper,” which is a misdemeanor theft charge. And Scott’s alleged method is consistent with what’s made him notorious on social media groups for service industry workers.  

“One of my employees found out who he was by talking to a bartender who had him in his bar. He showed him a picture of the man and a Facebook post. We posted those pictures of him in the back,” Cove on Castro owner Maurice Darwish told the Chronicle. “He showed up a second time 10 days ago and I personally told him I am not serving him because he skipped on his bill the last time.”

So there may be some joy in the Bay Area service industry that “Jared” finally got what he had coming. But realize that Scott was released back to the public after his Tuesday arrest. He is scheduled to be arraigned on misdemeanor charges in San Mateo County January 29, though Scott did not show up for his prior court date for the January 2024 theft hearing.

Related: Serial Bar Tab-Skipper ‘Jared’ Reportedly Drinking and Dashing on the Bill at Bars All Over SF [SFist]

Image: Jeff H via Yelp