Police arrest man who fled after spa services in Wis., Ill.
(Published Wednesday, February 7, 2007 10:24:23 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Associated Press
LAKE BLUFF, Ill. - The so-called "Spa Bandit" is now feeling the heat in another way.
A 56-year-old suspect was charged with theft of services after being accused of failing to pay for pedicures and other spa treatments, police said Monday.
He was arrested over the weekend near a train station.
"He ran away from the officers across a parking lot and tried to get into a taxi," Deputy Police Chief David Belmonte said. "That's when he was apprehended."
Authorities said the man received a number of services in at least 20 spas in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin since last March and left without paying the bill.
He is accused of stealing nearly $1,000 over the past year in body waxings, massages, haircuts, facials, sea salt body scrubs, tangerine body quenches, manicures and pedicures, authorities said.
Police say he would book several spa treatments for a day under an alias and afterward would ask if he could continue with a massage. After feigning that he had to run to his car, he'd leave.
