A Minneapolis man has been caught and charged with passing himself off as a McDonald's corporate compliance officer on visits to various Golden Arches restaurants in Minnesota and other states, authorities said.

Before spending most of last week in jail, David S. Goldstein, 47, was staying at a hotel near the Mall of America and pledging that McDonald's headquarters would pick up the bill, Bloomington police said Monday.

Goldstein is charged with felony fraud and is due back in court in two weeks. A message was left with his attorney seeking a response to the allegations.

Police said Goldstein would don a dress shirt with a company logo and bring along documents as part of his scam. He also took on the bogus identity at McDonald's in states throughout the Midwest, police added.

At times during his visits to McDonald's restaurants he would "gain access to secure areas and secure documents," read a criminal complaint.

Managers in a McDonald's in Bloomington were on alert to be on the lookout for Goldstein, and sure enough, a security officer for the national fast-food chain contacted police after spotting him in the corporate-owned restaurant on Nicollet Avenue, just south of Interstate 494.

David Scott Goldstein

He was arrested on Feb. 2 during a traffic stop at Lyndale Avenue and 98th Street, police said.

A search of the car he was driving turned up evidence that he paid nearly $1,000 for the rental vehicle and his hotel bill with a prepaid credit card, the criminal complaint noted. The hotel said it could not collect for the room because the card was invalid, the court document added.

The general manager of a Holiday Inn Express in southwestern Minnesota said a man he now recognizes as Goldstein duped his staff as well, walking out on a bill in excess of $700 after a six-day stay several weeks ago.

"It was the exact same deal," said Brian Wind, whose hotel in Worthington is used to hosting corporate employees from McDonald's. There is a McDonald's no more than a block away, he said.

"His reservation was made in the name of McDonald's Corporation, and he had a McDonald's logo on his shirt and paperwork" suggesting he worked for the company, Wind added.

Wind said that at one point during the stay, Goldstein said he crashed his rental car and wanted hotel staff to get him a replacement.

"He was kind of rude to my staff, obnoxious," Wind said.

Goldstein also was driving without a valid license at the time of his arrest, the complaint read.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482