A 19-year-old has been arrested after authorities say he lured numerous gay men to an undisclosed location via the dating app Grindr before robbing them at gunpoint.
Zechariah Warren of South Fulton, Georgia was arrested by police on Wednesday but has yet to be charged with a crime. Still, investigators told local outlet Fox 5 Atlanta that they’ve connected Warren to six of the robberies, but that they expect many more victims will come forward.
“Our Criminal Investigations Division detectives teamed up with officers from all other divisions within the agency to locate the alleged offender, Mr. Zechariah Warren,” said Police Chief Keith Meadows in a statement shared on Facebook. “These allegations against Warren are disturbing to say the least. We will work with our partners at the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office and federally to continue investigating this case for prosecution.”
Warren’s arrest comes after dozens of victims reported being coaxed into meeting up at the Camelot Club Condominiums along the Old National Highway after communicating on the dating app Grindr. The men who came forward said once they arrived on the scene, they were robbed at gunpoint.
“People are being enticed on these dating sites,” South Fulton Police Lt. Ronnie Wyatt told FOX 5’s Deidra Dukes. “They are being tricked [into] meeting up with people. And once they are getting there, they are actually taking money from them and things like that.”
Wyatt added that people on these dating apps should exercise caution before meeting up somewhere unfamiliar.
“Because anytime you are meeting someone for the first time you never know who it is until you get there,” Wyatt said. “Once you get there is not the time to say ‘maybe this isn’t a good thing’. You should do all those things prior to meeting up with that person.”
Police Lieutenant Jubal Rogers, public information officer, had previously added in a statement: “Predators lurk online, sadly. We want to remind dating app users to remain cautious and report any suspicious activity to local law enforcement.”
