Los Angeles: Grindr Robber Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison
According to documents from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, a 23-year old man from Compton was sentenced Wednesday to nine years in federal prison. In his plea agreement. Derrick Patterson, admitted to using LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr to find and rob five victims in the greater Los Angeles area, from June 2021 to March 2022. In a previous report that was released by the LA Times, prosecutors stated that Patterson was suspected of having committed over 20 similar crimes since 2019.
In court documents, authorities claim that Patterson would plan to meet with his victims at their homes or in hotel rooms for sexual encounters. He would then ask to use their phones and transfer significant amounts of money to himself via Venmo or other banking apps.
Prosecutors detailed a...