Escondido PD: Man Used Grindr to Lure Men for Sexual Assaults

ESCONDIDO (CNS) - A 28-year-old Black man has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting four men after luring them to his apartment via Grindr while posing as a white man under a fake name, police said today.

Over the past four months, police received reports of four men who

chatted with another male via the LGBTQ+ dating app and agreed to meet at his

apartment in the city, according to the Escondido Police Department.

Police say that when the men arrived at the residence, the man who

answered the door was not the same person from the Grindr profile. He told the

victims that the man they were there to meet was his roommate but was not home.

Police said the victims were then forcibly restrained and sexually assaulted. Two of the victims allegedly witnessed the suspect with a handgun.

On Friday, detectives from the Escondido PD, assisted by members of a

SWAT team, served a search warrant and arrested Tobias Bartee at his residence.

``The suspect was using photographs of other people and portraying

them as himself,'' police said.

Bartee was arrested on suspicion of kidnap with intent to commit rape,

sodomy by force, oral copulation by force, assault with intent to commit

rape and strangulation.

Police urged anyone who may have been a victim of Bartee to contact

Detective Jesse Santaniello at 760-839-4768.

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