The New Jersey waitress who received thousands of dollars in donations after she claimed she was left an anti-gay message in lieu of a tip is being described by former friends as a compulsive liar.
Earlier this month Morales, a former Marine, claimed that she was stiffed on a $93.55 dinner bill at Gallop Asian Bistro in Branchburg, New Jersey.
Morales, 22, claimed that after she served a family of four — a husband, wife, and their two children — she was left with a receipt with an anti-gay message written on it that read “I’m sorry but I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle.”
An upset Morales emailed her story to a non-profit organization called “Have a Gay Day.” National news outlets around the country reported the story, and thousands of dollars in donations poured into a PayPal account, the proceeds of which would supposedly be directed to the Wounded Warrior Project. Byron Lapola, the general manager of the restaurant, said that they would match any donations.
But Monday, the couple Morales accused of leaving the derogatory message denied writing it. In fact, the couple told NBC 4 New York that they left Morales a generous $18 tip. They provided copies of their Visa bill showing a $111.55 payment to the restaurant as well as a receipt showing their nearly 20% tip.
The husband told NBC 4 that posting the fake message was “a disgusting thing to do”.
In an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation, Kiersten Bremer, a former friend of the waitress’s, said that Morales has concocted a series of lies over the past couple of years.
“She said that her dad raped her and got her pregnant,” Bremer said. To account for the fact that she never had a child, Bremer said that Morales told her and other friends that she had cervical cancer which spread to her baby, killing it. She said Morales later admitted that she had made up the whole story.
Bremer said that she doesn’t believe Morales is trying to profit financially off her latest claim: “She just wants attention.”
Another ex-friend, Kristina Calamusa, shared similar stories with TheDCNF.
“Dayna took me to the side to tell me about her terminal cancer,” Calamusa told TheDCNF in a Facebook interview. “Immediately I cried. I couldn’t believe the news. About a month later we found out it was all a LIE.”
Calamusa also said that Morales claimed “she was blown up by a land mine over seas” and that she was not receiving benefits for the injuries.
But that story changed too, according to Calamusa.”She never was in active duty. She barely made it out of basic training.”
“She was supposed to complete the reserves here….never went and was dishonorably discharged.”
Calamusa contacted Morales through text message on November 15th, two days after the incident, calling her former friend a fraud.
Morales responded in an error-filled message. “Think what you want but it really did happened and yes I’ve filed up in the past and yes I e learned from y mistakes and karma has come back to me but you’re entitled to your opinion. Have a gay day.”
Morales’ denial failed to sway Calamusa, who is also gay. “It was just another Dayna hoax to gain attention,” she wrote. “Now she not only hurt our group,” said Calamusa of the gay community “but thousands maybe even millions of people.”
“She needs to be punished, big time.”
As of Monday, Gallop’s manager Lapola said that the restaurant was investigating the incident, which included a review of video surveillance. So far, Lapola has said that he is sticking by his employee.
Morales did not return TheDCNF’s request for comment. Neither did Lapola or The Wounded Warrior Project.
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