Compton man targeted, robbed more than 20 gay men he met on Grindr: DOJ

 A Compton man was arrested on suspicion of concentrating on and robbing greater than 20 homosexual males he met on a courting app, authorities introduced Tuesday.

Derrick Patterson, 22, is charged in a federal legal criticism with one rely of theft. He was taken into custody Monday by FBI brokers.

The person has been tied to a number of robberies that occurred between November 2019 and March 2022.

The robberies often started the identical manner: Patterson would use the Grindr app to contact folks, who he then met at their properties or lodge rooms, purportedly for intercourse, in response to the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace.

He would then pull out totally different weapons, like knives or a taser gun, and demand they hand over their wallets and cell telephones, officers stated.

“On different events, Patterson bodily assaulted his victims,” the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace stated.

After the robberies, Patterson allegedly withdrew cash from victims’ financial institution accounts or used their bank cards, officers stated.

In a single incident from September 2020, Patterson met considered one of his victims at a lodge on Century Boulevard in Los Angeles, and “whereas participating in consensual sexual exercise, took the sufferer’s cellphone,” officers stated.

He then requested the sufferer for his password to entry Apple Pay. When the sufferer refused and demanded his cellphone again, Patterson pulled out a taser and threatened him, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace stated.

Patterson allegedly activated the taser when the sufferer ran away.

The sufferer later returned to the room to search out Patterson gone, alongside together with his pockets.

Police later bought a search warrant for Patterson’s cellphone quantity and have been in a position to place him close to the lodge’s location on the time of the theft, in addition to at a special Century Boulevard lodge the place an identical theft was reported simply two hours earlier, authorities stated.

In one other theft from October 2020, Patterson allegedly stabbed a sufferer within the chest, officers stated.

That sufferer survived and was in a position to establish Patterson as his attacker, officers stated.

The most recent recognized theft occurred on March 26 at a lodge in Beverly Hills, in response to authorities.

Officers stated Patterson may face a statutory most sentence of 20 years in federal jail if convicted.

The FBI investigated the case with assist from the Los Angeles Police Division, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Division and the Beverly Hills Police Division.

Anybody who believes they could have been a sufferer or focused by the defendant is urged to contact the FBI’s Los Angeles Discipline Workplace at 310-477-6565.