A bodycam video shared by Body Cam Goat on October 9 brings new attention to a September 28, 2025, encounter outside a Cheesecake Factory in West Palm Beach, Florida. A customer insisted he had paid his bill while police tried to establish his identity.
Police in West Palm Beach had responded to a complaint that a customer had left without paying. The channel places the tab at about $140.
Erik Donald Kero maintained that he had left cash and someone had taken it. He objected to being followed, while the manager gave police a different account of what happened before they arrived.
Asked for identification, Kero said he had none and insisted people knew him and the restaurants he owned. When an officer asked his name again, he answered, “I need a lawyer is what my name is cuz I didn’t do anything wrong.”
The officer then instructed him to put his hands behind his back.
At the Door
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The manager explained that a server taking over the table had noticed several drinks already on the customer’s check. Staff decided to monitor him and stop serving alcohol after another drink with dinner, while also watching to make sure the bill was paid.
After a trip to the restroom, the customer returned to his table and said he was not ready to pay because he was watching television. The manager identified the program as a football game. When the manager turned away and looked back, he saw the customer walking out the front door.
He intercepted him and asked him to settle the check. The customer insisted he had paid someone else, but the server had not received the money. The manager said Kero repeatedly referred to an Italian gentleman whom staff could not identify.
As Kero kept walking, the manager followed and continued asking him to pay. Security followed them, and police arrived during that encounter.
A Different Request
Kero continued to dispute the arrest and demanded that the police identify him. During the exchange, he directed another request toward someone nearby: “Sir, pay my tab, please.”
An officer challenged him about that request and asserted that restaurant cameras supported the nonpayment account.
Police eventually addressed him as Erik. “I look just like him,” he replied. Later, when an officer attempted to advise him of his rights, he continued denying wrongdoing and asked for a lawyer.
After the Encounter
In the case tied to the September arrest, Kero was adjudicated guilty on November 7, 2025, of defrauding an innkeeper for less than $1,000 and two counts of resisting an officer without violence, according to Palm Beach County court records.
Separate Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office booking records list a January 29, 2026, arrest by Boca Raton police on charges of defrauding a food or lodging operator, two resisting counts, battery on specified personnel, and a threat-related charge involving a public servant or family member. That entry records a May 7 release and labels the facility status “TIME SERVED.”
An August 8 booking by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office lists a charge of using or possessing another person’s identifying information without consent. The supplied entry lists Main Detention Center, a $5,000 bond, and no release date. These later bookings concern separate cases; their charge listings do not establish convictions.
All parties are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.