http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/011502/met_8340887.html Tuesday, January 15, 2002 Last modified at 12:13 a.m. on Tuesday, January 15, 2002 Patron wants surgery loan payback Breast-enhancement money a gift, she says By Jessie-Lynne Kerr The Florida Times-Union staff writer To the Hooters waitress turned police officer, the $3,940 given to enlarge her breasts was a gift. But to the restaurant patron who picked up the surgery tab, it was a loan that has since come due Now a judge is being asked to decide who is correct. Somchart "Nick" Fungcharoen, 53, filed a small-claims action against former waitress Jennifer Gilpin, whom he told Duval County Judge Harold C. Arnold he met when he went to lunch at Hooters at The Jacksonville Landing in 1998. Fungcharoen Fungcharoen, an engineer retired on disability from the Army Corps of Engineers, said Gilpin told him she was attending the police academy and expected to get hired by the Sheriff's Office. "She served me, and she was nice to me," Fungcharoen said. Gilpin Eventually she asked him if he would lend her the money for her breast enlargement, he said. "I asked her why she didn't ask her parents or her boyfriend for the money," he testified yesterday during a non-jury hearing. "She said that they couldn't, but that it was OK with them if I did." He said he agreed to lend her the money and took her to the surgeon, John J. Obi, for the operation on March 16, 1999. Since then, Gilpin has avoided his phone calls, he said, and has refused to pay him any money. Gilpin testified that when Fungcharoen made the offer to pay for the procedure, she asked him why he would do that for her and what he wanted in return. "He said I had been a good friend to him and he wanted nothing in return," Gilpin said. "He said he wanted me to feel better about myself." Gilpin said she had the surgery and continued working at Hooters until October 1999, when she was hired by the Sheriff's Office. During those months, Fungcharoen continued to patronize Hooters and "he never mentioned it as a debt." But Fungcharoen called Gilpin a liar and said she had promised to pay him back once she got hired as a police officer. He filed the small claims action against Gilpin late last year in an effort to collect the money. Fungcharoen told the judge he did not have a written agreement in which Gilpin promised to pay him. "She seemed to be a nice person," he said. "I trusted her." Arnold said he would issue a judgment in the case this week. The judge appeared alarmed when Fungcharoen said he used a government-issued credit card to pay the doctor. When shown the credit card, Arnold noted it read "for official government travel only." "You paid for this breast enlargement with a government credit card?" the judge asked. "Yes, it's for traveling and emergency medical care," Fungcharoen replied. "I assume you paid the government back?" queried the judge. "Yes sir," said Fungcharoen. "OK," the judge said. "Let's not go there." Staff writer Jessie-Lynne Kerr can be reached at (904) 359-4374 or via e-mail at jkerr@jacksonville.com.
