A Whidbey Island man has been charged with a felony fraud charge after he allegedly failed to pay a hotel bill on Bainbridge Island after renting a room for two years.

Authorities claim Eugene E. Hallum used a credit card and checked into the Island Country Inn with his wife in March 2012, and the couple used the hotel as their home through May 2014.

Police said Hallum, 70, of Clinton, would make small periodic payments to the hotel but never paid his entire bill.

Instead, according to court documents, Hallum continued to promise the hotel owner that the bill would be paid in full, through money expected from investments or by other means.

Authorities said the promises of payment proved to be false, and the bill for staying at the hotel eventually reached $31,680.

Police also discovered that the couple had lost their home on Bainbridge, and had registered their car using the address of the hotel.

Hallum was charged in Kitsap County District Court on Friday, May 16 of one count of obtaining hotel, restaurant or accommodations by fraud.

Bail was set at $50,000.

The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a $20,000 fine upon conviction.