[ad_1]
The FBI alleges Stevenson Charles used the favored homosexual courting software to lure the victims to Miami residences, and after they confirmed up, he whipped out a gun and demanded money. He was arrested in Georgia final month and extradited to Miami-Dade County on federal carjacking and firearm costs.
The first incident was in late October when an unidentified man agreed to satisfy up at Charles’ residence on Northwest twenty fifth Avenue, based on an FBI affidavit filed within the Southern District of Florida. After bringing the person inside, Charles allegedly pulled out a gun and compelled him at hand over his mobile phone.
“[The] sufferer, in worry for his life, and in an try to get out of the residence, advised Charles that he would drive him to a financial institution and withdraw cash for him,” the affidavit reads.
The man advised legislation enforcement he drove Charles in his 2021 Honda to Wells Fargo and Bank of America to withdraw $380 and $760, respectively. Charles allegedly saved the gun pointed at him in the course of the automobile journey.
After the sufferer turned over the money, the affidavit says, Charles took the motive force’s seat and dumped the sufferer off at a random freeway exit earlier than fleeing within the man’s car. The sufferer walked to a close-by fuel station to name the police, based on the FBI.
The affidavit notes that Charles was on probation and “being monitored by the Miami-Dade County Corrections Boot Camp Program” on the time. His ankle monitor location historical past corroborated the sufferer’s account of the theft, the FBI says. Probation data cited within the affidavit recommend Charles eliminated the ankle monitor after the incident.
Charles allegedly focused one other man on Grindr final month.
On November 2, the second sufferer acquired a message from Charles on the app and drove to an handle Charles offered on Northwest 72nd Terrace, a residence linked to Charles’ “recognized feminine affiliate,” the FBI says. When the sufferer arrived, Charles jumped into the again of the person’s new Toyota, brandishing a gun, the courtroom paperwork state.
“Charles appeared to note police vehicles that have been close by and ordered [the] sufferer to drive,” the affidavit says.
Because the person didn’t communicate English fluently, Charles made his calls for by way of an automatic cellphone translator, based on the FBI.
Charles directed the sufferer to drive to the parking storage of the sufferer’s condo constructing, the place he ordered the person into the backseat and “struck [him] a number of occasions in regards to the head and physique” with the gun, the affidavit alleges. The FBI claims that whereas rifling via the sufferer’s cellphone, Charles noticed photos of him with different males, at which level Charles struck the sufferer once more and stated, “I’m going to kill all of you,” based on the affidavit.
After the sufferer was unable to withdraw cash from an area financial institution, Charles drove to Walgreens shops and used the person’s Apple card to purchase two $500 reward playing cards, a Mountain Dew, and a bottle of water, based on the affidavit. Charles left the sufferer within the automobile, threatening to kill the bruised and crushed man if he tried to flee whereas Charles was on his procuring spree, the FBI claims.
Charles left the automobile working whereas he was inside one of many shops, and the sufferer took the chance to leap within the driver’s seat and drive away.
Investigators say they discovered Charles’ fingerprints on the Apple card and verified his identification by exhibiting his probation officer surveillance footage from the property the place Charles met the second sufferer.
In current years, schemes through which criminals goal customers of quick-dating apps like Grindr and Tinder have made headlines throughout the nation.
Atlanta police warned final yr about a wave of robberies through which thieves focused eight homosexual males utilizing Grindr. This previous April, a Compton, California, man was charged with robbing 20 males he had lured on the app over a three-year interval.
Miami police’s personal high brass have not been resistant to the spate of Grindr theft. Local police union president Tommy Reyes was allegedly pilfered and blackmailed in January by a Grindr date whereas at a Hampton Inn in Tallahassee.
[ad_2]