Man Who Used Grindr to Attack and Rob Gay Men Pleads Guilty to Hate Crimes

A man in Dallas, Texas, who used dating apps to target gay men has pleaded guilty to several offenses, including hate crimes.

Per a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, Daniel Jenkins, 22, is the last of four defendants to accept a plea deal for organizing and participating in “a scheme that targeted gay men on the dating app Grindr.”

Officials say Jenkins and his co-conspirators “used Grindr, a social media dating platform used primarily by gay men, to lure gay men to a vacant apartment and other areas in and around Dallas for robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, and hate crimes over the course of approximately a week in December 2017.”

As part of the plea deal, Jenkins admitted that he and the other three men held victims against their will and threatened them with guns and took their personal belongings. The men also admitted to stealing some of their cars, as well as forcing at least some of them to withdraw money from ATMs.

“He further admitted that he and his co-conspirators physically injured at least one victim and taunted the victims based upon the co-conspirators’ perception of the men’s sexual orientation,” the statement read.

On Wednesday, Jenkins pleaded guilty to one hate crime count, one hate crime conspiracy count, kidnapping, carjacking, and one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 6.

Previously, in March 2019, Michael Atkinson, 26, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and kidnapping charges stemming from his involvement in the crimes.

Additionally, in December 2019, Daryl Henry, 25, and Pablo Ceniceros-Deleon, 20, pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime and other charges in connection with the scheme.

Atkinson, Henry, and Ceniceros-Deleon are scheduled to be sentenced on June 23.

“These defendants brutalized multiple victims, singling them out due to their sexual orientation. We cannot allow this sort of violence to fester unchecked,” Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah said in a statement.