DALLAS (1080 KRLD) - Two men have been charged with hate crimes for using the Grindr app to lure gay victims to a Dallas apartment for beatings and robberies.
The two lured at least nine gay men to a vacant Dallas apartment where they allegedly beat, robbed, threatened and humiliated them, according to an indictment.
Dallas Police say Daniel Jenkins and Michael Atkinson committed the armed assaults during the first two weeks of December 2017.
Jenkins and Atkinson are charged with hate crimes, kidnapping, carjacking, and using a firearm during a crime of violence. At least one victim was sexually assaulted with an object, the indictment says. Another was urinated on and smeared with feces, according to the indictment.
The victims ranged in age from 19 to 57. Most were under 30.
The alleged assaults and robberies at gunpoint took place in the Solana Ridge apartment complex east of Dallas and south of Interstate 30, the indictment said.
Grindr is a social networking app for gay, bisexual and trans people. The defendants used it to create fake profiles and "pose as gay men interested in 'dates' to lure gay men," the indictment said.
