About four months ago, a man sat down at JJ's Place, at 2340 South Chambers Road in Aurora, ordered and ate. His waitress was near the end of her shift and asked him to pay his $15.61 bill — at which point he pushed her aside and ran out the door.
The owner of JJ's Place, Aurora City Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky, happened to be at the eatery; she called the police and followed the man to the Walmart across the street.
"This gentleman shoved my waitress so hard out of the way that she fell on the ground, and he bolted out the front door," Jurinsky recalls. "It upset me so bad."
The scofflaw went to jail because he had two outstanding warrants, but he still hasn't paid his JJ's Place bill. Jurinsky is less concerned about the money than she is with the increasing frequency of dine-and-dash thefts.
"This is the kind of thing that if it's not addressed, if we don't get tough on it, it can absolutely put some of these people out of business," Jurinsky says. "When this is happening two, three times a day — which is the reality for many establishments right now — It adds up."
Today, February 26, Aurora City Council will vote on whether to add a "dine-and-dash" section to the city's theft laws that would require a three-day minimum jail sentence for "defrauding a public establishment" out of more than $15. Jurinsky says she picked the $15 minimum because of the incident at JJ's.
An at-large councilmember, Jurinsky proposed the "dine-and-dash" measure after talking with upwards of fifty restaurant owners in Aurora. Many were from the Havana Street Business Improvement District, a four-mile corridor running from Sixth Avenue to Dartmouth Avenue near the border between Denver and Aurora. It's home to more than 100 restaurants, and the proposal notes that "one of the targeted areas of these criminals is the Havana Business District."
Garrett Walls, president of the BID board, says that "dine-and-dash is a larger problem than anyone ever knew." And he doubts that it's a problem only suffered by Havana Street or even Aurora.
"Based on the types of restaurants — a lot of them are chains like Denny's or IHOP — I'm guessing it's a metro-wide and nationwide issue," he says. "I don't think it's something unique to Aurora. I think as homeless populations increase and people aren't getting connected with city services, maybe they are starting to see retail centers as opportunity centers to get the nourishment they need. I think it's a compounding issue of everything that's going on."
"The Havana BID is hearing about it overwhelmingly, to the point of bringing this to my attention for an ordinance," Jurinsky says. "A lot of people are just fed up. They've given up on reporting any kind of crime.""Based on the types of restaurants — a lot of them are chains like Denny's or IHOP — I'm guessing it's a metro-wide and nationwide issue," he says. "I don't think it's something unique to Aurora. I think as homeless populations increase and people aren't getting connected with city services, maybe they are starting to see retail centers as opportunity centers to get the nourishment they need. I think it's a compounding issue of everything that's going on."
Danielle Jurinsky, an at-large Aurora councilmember, wants to send people to jail for committing dine-and-dash-style theft.
Courtesy of the City of Aurora
Now, Jurinsky is also proposing an amendment to the 2022 retail theft ordinance that would lower the threshold for the three-day minimum jail sentence to stealing goods worth $100 or more.
It would also set a minimum of ninety days in jail for repeat offenders with one prior, and a 180-day minimum for those with two. The retail theft and dine-and-dash bills are meant to "combat a rise in theft," according to the language of the bills.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado sent a letter to Aurora City Council ahead of a February 12 study session warning that a 180-day minimum sentence could violate state law, because Colorado currently has a maximum sentence of 120 days for theft; imposing harsher penalties could violate the Colorado Constitution's guarantee of equal protection.
"Passing the ordinance would expose the City to additional expenses as organizations seek to invalidate the unconstitutional penalties," Laura Moraff, an attorney with the ACLU of Colorado, wrote. "The ACLU of Colorado urges the Council not to enact this ordinance."
The councilmembers passed it out of the study session, sending it to the full council for tonight's vote.
The councilmembers passed it out of the study session, sending it to the full council for tonight's vote.
By creating penalties for dine-and-dash theft, Jurinsky hopes to encourage restaurant owners to report this type of theft more often, giving Aurora the chance to better track incidents. That's what happened after the 2022 shoplifting ordinance went through.
"People have given up calling 911, so we don't have clear data," Jurinsky says. "When we passed the retail theft ordinance and really got the message out, maybe they had the same feeling — 'Oh, they're never going to catch this person' — but businesses at least started reporting it more, which then helps with the data."
At least once a month, people dine, then dash from El Tequileño at 2790 South Havana Street, says Jose Lopez, the Aurora restaurant's general manager.
"The servers and waiters, they're definitely attentive, but when you're off-guard, it's hard to notice," he says. "They've got a lot to deal with, they're busy and, well, a customer will leave without saying anything. They walk away without paying."
Restaurants are looking for ways to deter dining and dashing. El Tequileño put up a "Wall of Shame."
Courtesy of Jose Lopez
Diners will leave without paying checks of "more than $100, sometimes $70, $100, $120, up to $200, without paying," notes Lopez.
Aurora restaurants have been looking for their own ways to discourage dine-and-dash theft, including asking for IDs when people order, Walls says. Some restaurants and bars are asking for credit cards to hold on to in case the check isn't paid, but "the credit card declines or it's completely stolen," according to Jurinsky. "I've had people leave behind passports, IDs. Some people just do not seem to care."
Near its entrance, El Tequileño put up a Wall of Shame, a collection of security camera footage shots and receipts from people who ordered, ate and left without paying. Hanging the wall did slow the rate of dine-and-dash thefts, Lopez says, but only for a while; he's looking forward to Jurinsky's law discouraging more theft.
Near its entrance, El Tequileño put up a Wall of Shame, a collection of security camera footage shots and receipts from people who ordered, ate and left without paying. Hanging the wall did slow the rate of dine-and-dash thefts, Lopez says, but only for a while; he's looking forward to Jurinsky's law discouraging more theft.
"It's so they reconsider and think before taking those kinds of actions," Lopez says. "Sometimes we'll see in the photos that people take off running, but we can't say anything. We don't know how we can report them if they do that, so the police search for them, or I don't know what. This will at least offer consequences."
Councilmember Stephanie Hancock represents Aurora's Ward 4 and much of Havana Street, the "most delicious corridor in the metro area," says Hancock, who plans to vote in favor of the dine-and-dash law. El Tequileño is her favorite restaurant, and seeing the Wall of Shame made her "sad," she says.
"I felt like, well, how can we protect these folks? How can we make them feel secure and let them know that we — as the servants of the community — have our eyes on this, and we want to help," Hancock adds. "We care about our businesses, we care about our restaurants."
Hancock had already voted for the proposal as a member of the Public Safety Committee, which includes Jurinsky and Steve Sundberg, who owns Legends, a sports bar at 13690 East Iliff Avenue in Aurora.
"I just hope this deters them," Jurinsky says of the proposal. "The bar and restaurant industry really has been struggling since the pandemic. We'll probably be the last industry to make a full comeback."
"There are food pantries, there are so many options to get food, to get help," Jurinsky says. "Like most bar and restaurant owners I know, if you are hungry, if you are on the street, if you came into our location, if you came into my location and you came up to me and say, 'Please, I am so hungry, can I have something to eat?,' I'm going to make you a sandwich."
