BONITA SPRINGS, Fla., - Authorities say a man tried to extort money from a Southwest Florida diner.
Deputies say the man - who hasn’t been named - made repeated trips to Metro Diner in Bonita Springs, harassing and cyber stalking their employees, demanding the restaurant pay him $35,000 or risk a big lawsuit if they don’t meet his demands.
He told staff at the Diner he’s famous for making a living suing people and businesses.
It started in October, when the man left his number with a waitress after going inside the Naples restaurant looking for a lighter. When the waitress called him back the next day, the incident report says he, ‘demanded they meet and hook up’.
The waitress reportedly declined the invite. That’s when he began threatening to sue the restaurant and ruin their reputation on social media, ‘with the expressed intent to destroy their business in the Naples area’
On a separate occasion, he became flirtatious with another waitress and touched her arm, saying ‘We’d make pretty babies’ and ‘touched her on her left hip near her buttocks’.
“The business owner’s best remedy is to refer this to law enforcement or the state attorneys office to take appropriate or to get a restraining order to prohibit this person from coming to the business,” said Benjamin Yormak, a labor and employment attorney in Bonita Springs.
The restaurant has told the man they won’t be paying him and have since trespassed him from the business. Once caught, he’ll be facing charges related to extortion of money and stalking.
The owner of Metro Diner declined to comment Wednesday.
