Attackers used the Grindr app to target their victims.
Four Collin County men have been charged with anti-gay hate crimes after using the Grindr app to target gay men that they then assaulted and robbed.
Anthony Shelton, 19; Nigel Garrett, 21; Chancler Encalade, 20; and Cameron Ajiduah, 18, all from Frisco, used Grindr to contact gay men in Plano, Frisco and Aubrey in January and February and then attacked the men because they were gay, according to an indictment handed down yesterday (Wednesday, May 10) by a federal grand jury. The federal indictment, which says the suspects “caused bodily injury because of [victims’] sexual orientation, supersedes local charges.
The four suspects posed as a gay men to find their four victims, who invited the “gay man” from the app to their homes. Instead of a gay man, the victims found themselves faced with the four suspects who assaulted them, restrained them with tape and taunted them for being gay. The victims were then robbed and their cars stolen.
If the four suspects are convicted on federal hate crime charges, they face fines up $250,000 and sentences as stiff as life in prison. They’ve also been charged with conspiracy, kidnapping, carjacking and possession of a firearm while committing crimes.
