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The Villages
Thursday, January 30, 2025

Dine-and-dash suspect arrested after allegedly stiffing another restaurant

Tara Leigh Clutter
Tara Leigh Clutter

A dine-and-dasher who recently served 10 days in jail for skipping out on a meal at a restaurant in The Villages, has been arrested again for leaving another unpaid tab.

Tara Leigh Clutter, 43, who lives in The Quarters Apartments in Lady Lake, was arrested last week on a warrant charging her with the theft of her latest unpaid meal at a restaurant.

Clutter was originally arrested Sept. 6 after leaving Perkins restaurant on Bichara Boulevard in The Villages. She was later sentenced to time served after she was picked up for skipping a court date. She was released on Feb. 1.

However, she was rearrested last week on a warrant charging her with leaving an unpaid bill on Dec. 2 at the Ichiban Buffet in Leesburg. She consumed a meal valued at $19.85 and walked out of the Japanese restaurant. A waiter, identified as Shengqu Lu, attempted to stop Clutter, who stands 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 220 pounds, according to an affidavit of probable cause from the Leesburg Police Department.

Clutter ordered him to, “Get off.” However, it was clear from surveillance video that he never touched her. The restaurant’s manager, Yaxiu Yan, who was also involved in trying to stop Clutter from skipping out on the bill, later positively identified Clutter as the woman who left the restaurant without paying for her meal. The manager picked Clutter out of a photo lineup. A restaurant staffer shot a photo of the license plate on Clutter’s white Honda four-door sedan, the same vehicle she was driving in September when she fled Perkins restaurant without paying her bill.

At the time of her visit to Ichiban Buffet, Clutter had been free on her own recognizance after the Perkins dine-and-dash arrest.

Clutter was still being held Tuesday at the Lake County Jail on $1,500 bond as the result of her most-recent arrest.

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