The Post reports that Williamsburg’s designer‑clad dine‑and‑dasher could be sent back to her home country of Taiwan. 34‑year‑old Pei Chung has been in custody since Friday after police charged her with theft of service following a spree of unpaid meals at over a dozen high‑end restaurants in Brooklyn, starting in October.
The Department of Corrections website also lists an immigration warrant, and an officer confirmed that Chung’s student visa has expired.
Immigration attorney Gadi Zohar told the Post that Chung will likely have to appear before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after she goes to trial Wednesday. “If her visa has lapsed, that could trigger her removal,” Zohar explained.
He added that the criminal case probably led to the warrant, and that officers would probably take her from Rikers to an immigration detention center.
Chung’s current status in the U.S. and whether she is allowed to work are not public. She first came to the country in 2019 on a scholarship to study at Pratt Institute, but there is no evidence she has any family members here.
According to her LinkedIn profile, her last paid position was a consultation role with Chase Bank as a Senior User Experience Designer during 2023.
The “designer‑clad dine‑and‑dasher” has been snapping photos of carbonara, salmon and steak across Williamsburg, then walking out of the restaurants without paying. She also claims to have worked as a UX and UI designer from December 2021 to September 2022, jobs that ceased around the same time she stopped paying rent on a $3,350‑a‑month studio in a Williamsburg luxury building owned by former Governor Eliot Spitzer.
Her lease expired in August 2024 and she is facing eviction after being behind on rent by $40,000, according to court filings. A judge has ordered that she vacate the premises by December 1, though she may still be in custody at that date.
Her most recent arrest – the eighth time last Friday – came after she refused to pay $149 worth of food at Mole Mexican Bar and Grill on Kent Avenue. Bail was set at $4,500 cash, yet she remained in Rikers as of Tuesday afternoon.
“Even if she raises bail, immigration won’t let her go,” Zohar warned. The owner of the restaurant she has targeted twice, Francie, said he didn’t think “entitlement” was an appropriate description for her behaviour.
Chung’s run of fraudulent dining has included a $149 bite at Mole, a mezze spread she photographed at 12 Chairs on November 17, a $25 meal she missed out on at Hole in the Wall on November 19, and an alleged offer of sex for a free meal at Peter Luger steakhouse on October 17.
While she has been posh on Instagram – showcasing designer shoes, Louis Vuitton bags and Hermès belts – her menu in Rikers will be vastly different: pizza pockets, steamed white cabbage, cucumber salad and chilled peaches make up the cell‑block’s latest fare.
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