A German man who repeatedly fled from restaurants rather than pay his bills was sentenced today to 18 months in jail after being convicted on 64 counts of meal-related fraud.  The man, a 350-pound unemployed truck driver, has been nicknamed "Schnitzel Stephan" for his habit of ordering a big meal of Viennese schnitzel along with numerous beers, before ultimately running out on the check each time.

How a 350-pound man who recently filled up on schnitzel and beer was able to run anywhere, let alone get away no fewer than 64 times, is not at all clear.  I have a vision of a very slow-motion getaway featuring a titanic schnitzel-filled German lumbering unstoppably down the street with three or four waiters clinging to him.

Stephan apparently was already on probation for an undisclosed number of previous unpaid eating binges when he began his latest spree.  The total value of what he consumed with regard to the 64 charged offenses was said to be about $4100.

Link: Reuters via Yahoo! News