INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Grindr Date From Hell Accused Of Robbing Flings

By Chelsea Hoffman
Published on: 14:24 PST, Dec 5, 2015

Grindr may be the “hunting grounds” for a serial thief, and multiple victims have come forward with similar stories about their encounters with the man. ABC 10 News reports that one of the victims’ eagerness to go to the media has inspired others to speak out against the man who has not been publicly identified.

None of the victims’ names are being shared in reports, but one man provided the details of what happened to him. The incident took place just before the Thanksgiving holiday after he met the man on Grindr. Before the two participated in a sexual encounter, the victim chose to ignore what he sees now as a red flag.

“We started messaging. He seemed kind of cute. He needed to be picked up, which was a little annoying, but I said, ‘OK, whatever.'”

After the man left his home, the victim went shopping — which is when he discovered that he had been robbed.

“I went to Costco and got to the front of the line and I’m like, ‘Umm, my debit card’s missing.’ I was obviously very shaken and upset and angry that I had something stolen from me, and I figured I probably wasn’t the only one.”

After filing a police report against his dastardly date, he went home and created a new Grindr profile using the thief’s photograph. He used the ad to warn others about the robbery. The responses he started to receive only confirmed his prior suspicions.

“There’s been about a total of four victims that have come to me from the fake pic profile and probably more because I am getting something new everyday, at this rate, where someone says, ‘That guy robbed me, too. That guy robbed me, too,’ so there’s been quite a pattern of this guy doing this for a while.”

So far authorities haven’t announced any arrests associated with this situation, nor have they identified the man accused of stealing from his Grindr dates. However, they have confirmed that someone with a similar name has previously been convicted of burglary.

This isn’t the first time a meeting on Grindr ended negatively. A Michigan man was recently sentenced to six months of imprisonment after he used the popular dating app to hook up with a 15-year-old boy. Alex Peter Benedict was 24 years old at the time of the incident. Also this year, a Pennsylvania man named Douglass Casey was sentenced to five to 10 years of imprisonment after a string of crimes he committed on a victim he met on Grindr. He reportedly forced his date to perform a sex act before robbing him of more than $1,500.

In March of this year, a New Zealand man was sought by authorities for using Grindr to meet victims before violently robbing them. So it seems that this latest case out of San Diego isn’t a totally new phenomenon. In fact, it looks like this isn’t entirely uncommon.

Hopefully, authorities in San Diego can get to the bottom of this alleged serial thief. If they don’t track this guy down, he may continue to commit the crimes he is accused of committing against unsuspecting men looking for dates. Meanwhile, it’s fortunate that one of the victims reached out to others on Grindr to warn them about the man’s alleged antics.

[Photo: Via Shutterstock]

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