Torn-pants claim doesn't sit well

A 52-year-old man remained jailed Friday after he tried to defraud an Irvine restaurant with a pair of torn pants, police said.

Gaylon Murphy of Irvine allegedly demanded that Houston's restaurant reimburse him for the cost of a pair of designer pants he said were torn in the establishment's restroom. Murphy told the manager that the trousers were part of a matching suit valued at $500 to $1,800, according to Irvine Police Department Lt. Rick Handfield.

When the restaurant manager called a local retail store to verify the price of the pants, the manager was told that the store had been contacted by another business with a similar story -- and that Murphy had contacted the retail store asking for a letter stating the value of the pants, police said.

Murphy was arrested late Thursday on suspicion of attempted grand theft.

He was being held on $20,000 bail.