Georgia's breakfast-buffet 'bandit' no longer freeloading at area hotels, but still at large, police say

A thief with a taste for hotel-prepared breakfast items has abandoned his pursuits, police believe. (Dalton Police Department; iStock)

Hold your breakfast buffets near and dear, Georgia.

Police in Dalton confirmed on Friday morning that a so-called “breakfast bandit” who was spotted last month helping himself to free food at hotels throughout the city has not yet been arrested — though he might have been deterred.

“We have not made an arrest in this case,” a spokesperson for the Dalton police told Fox News. “To the best of our knowledge, this individual also has not re-offended in our area.”

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According to a news release issued in early September, the suspect was seen “eating free breakfasts from buffets and also sneaking into open rooms” at the local Holiday Inn Express, Super 8 and Quality Inn locations.

Staff members who stopped the suspect and removed him from the Holiday Inn Express on Aug. 25 told police the man tried to explain away his actions by saying, “I am just checking to see how easy it is to get into hotels and get free stuff.”

The suspect's first target, as far as police are aware, was the Holiday Inn Express on College Drive. (Google)

The same man — described by police as a “Caucasian male with a thick dark beard and wearing a ball cap” — turned up at the Quality Inn the following two days, one time gaining access to a hotel room for over an hour before being discovered and removed.

The suspect was also spotted on surveillance camera at a Super 8 motel. Police also told Fox News that all of the hotel operators in the area were warned about the man’s actions. Some of them also reported missing silverware and towels, in addition to breakfast buffet items.

“He’s definitely still on the loose and we think he’s still hungry,” a Dalton police spokesperson recently confirmed to Thrillist. “I don’t know what he ate, exactly, but he definitely ate a lot of it.”

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Police also believe the man may have left town altogether.

“He's either not from our area, or he's laying low. Given the amount of attention this received in town and the lack of credible leads after we put his face out there, it's possible that he was passing through our area on the interstate,” a spokesperson told Fox News.