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Saturday, apr 27
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: Ex-BF Accused Of Swindling $71K From Local Realtor Lodged In Bergen County Jail
Christina LaBarbiera says four months is way too long — but it's something. Last November, she filed a lawsuit accusing Robert D. Harris of swindling more than $71,000 from her in the months after they matched on the dating app Hinge. On Monday, March 18, LaBarbiera says she got the call from police she has been waiting for: Harris surrendered, she said. Records show 30-year-old Harris was lodged in the Bergen County Jail on March 18, and is facing two counts of credit card theft and one count of theft by unlawful taking/disposition moveable property. "I'm just looking forward to the just…
News
Dating App Bumble Pays Up After Violating NJ Internet Safety Laws: State AG
You might want to be careful the next time you swipe right. Bumble, the popular dating app, has agreed to pay $315,000 and change its business practices after the state charged it violated consumer protection and internet dating safety laws by misrepresenting its criminal background screening policies, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. As part of the settlement, Bumble has agreed to disclose the company's criminal background screening policies on its dating website and app, to disclose whether those services allow people with criminal backgrounds to use the site and pr…
News
Ex-BF Swindled Bergen County Realtor Out Of $71K: Lawsuit
Christina LaBarbiera remembers watching the hit Netflix show "Tinder Swindler" and thinking what happened to those women could never happen to her. Until it did, she says. The show follows a group of women who say they met a man on the popular dating app Tinder, who swindled them out of millions of dollars collectively. And they want justice. LaBarbiera, a 35-year-old realtor with Christie's International from Bergen County, says her story isn't all that different. UPDATE: Robert Harris was lodged in the Bergen County Jail on Monday, March 18, records show. Last November, she …
Lifestyle
Account Exec From NJ Shines On Hit Netflix Dating Experiment 'Love Is Blind'
An account executive from New Jersey is setting out to discover if love is truly blind. John "Johnny" McIntyre, 27, whose LinkedIn profile says he attended Somerville High School, is among the 30 men and women on Season 6 of the hit Netflix dating show "Love Is Blind," which aptly debuted on Valentine's Day. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Johnny McIntyre (@johnny__mcintyre) That of a dating experiment, cast members — who this season are all from the Charlotte, NC, area — will go on dates from either side of a wall, without…
Police & Fire
Jailed Serial Sex Assault Suspect Slapped With More Charges In Hudson Hotel: Authorities
A 25-year-old Montclair man being held in the Bergen County jail on sexual assault allegations was arrested and charged with another incident that occurred at a Secaucus hotel last year, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said. Fokam Parfait, 25, is accused of physically and sexually assaulting a 28-year-old woman in a Secaucus hotel on the Meadowlands Parkway last September, Suarez said. The victim sustained head and facial injuries and Parfait prevented her from leaving the hotel room, Suarez said. Parfait had met the woman on an online dating app, Suarez said. Parfait was char…
News
'You Have Good Birthing Hips,' Kohberger Allegedly Told PA TikToker On Bizarre Tinder Date
A former Pennsylvania student who claims she went on a Tinder date with accused "Idaho Four" killer Bryan Kohberger opened up about her experience in a series of TikTok videos. The woman, identified as "Hayley," told the New York Post she was a psychology student at Penn State Hazelton when she matched with the suspected killer seven years ago. She said her interactions with Kohberger were "brief", but that he acted a bit strange, inviting himself inside her dorm after their date. "I thought he was just going to drop me off but that was not the case he kind of invited himself inside", Hay…
News
Match
DOT CON: It's Back To Prison For NJ Serial Dating Scammer Who Escaped Federal Custody
A serial dating scammer from Atlantic City who escaped from custody while serving time for conning women throughout the country must spend another 5½ years in federal prison. Patrick Giblin, 58, had already served several years behind bars -- and was months short of freedom -- when he made a break for it in July 2020, authorities said. Giblin bolted while being transitioned to a halfway house in Newark from a federal prison in Lewisburg, PA, to serve out the rest of his sentence for duping multiple women in an online dating scam, they said. It was the second time that he'd escaped federal …
Police & Fire
New Charges Indicate Dating App Serial Killer Tried To Sexually Assault Teen Before Killing Her
New charges filed against a North Jersey man who is serving a 160-year prison sentence for using dating apps to lure and kill his victims indicate that he tried to sexually assault a 15-year-old girl before he killed her — and kept her body hidden for years. Khalil Wheeler-Weaver has been charged in a new indictment with attempted sexual assault of a minor, endangering the welfare of a child, and desecration of human remains, in the death of 15-year-old Mawa Doumbia, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II said. He had been charged with murder in Mawa's death in Marc…
News
Hudson Man Kidnaps, Sexually Abuses Mentally Impaired Woman, Shoves Her From Car: Authorities
A Kearny man kidnapped a mentally incapacitated Paterson woman he’d met online, had sex with her in his car, a nearby park and his apartment, then shoved her out of the vehicle when he realized her family was following him, authorities charged. A four-month manhunt ended when Horus G. Nunez-Velazquez, 35, was captured in Pennsylvania, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Chief Ibrahim M. Baycora said in a joint announcement on Friday. Nunez-Velazquez “met the (32-year-old) woman online, picked her up from her residence and took her to a nearby park and subsequentl…
News
NJ Love Seeker Loses $450,000 To Scammer On Dating App For 'Rich And Attractive'
It's heartbreaking to learn that someone you've become enamored with online isn't into you, but it's downright tragic to discover that person just made off with $450,000 of your money. That's right: A con artist collected nearly a half-million dollars in crypto from a Glen Rock, NJ resident who fell for an online romance scam. You could call it missed fortune. The victim met the imposter on Luxy, a dating app for millionaires -- and those looking to meet them -- that boasts of collecting "the most attractive and financially stable of dating applicants." Or, as the founders of the Hon…
News
Feds: NJ Man Admits He Ran Guns From Georgia With Online Dating Match
An ex-con from New Jersey most likely didn't list "gun running" among his hobbies when he made an online love connection with a Southern woman. It'll be quite some time before Dylan Ianncelli, 28, of Gloucester County dates again -- either online or off -- after admitting in federal court on Wednesday, March 9, that he and his Georgia peach trafficked nearly a dozen firearms into New Jersey. Ianncelli went down to Georgia after meeting Jessy Hill, who authorities said bought 11 guns from a licensed dealer on Aug. 12, 2021. Hill "falsely indicated during the purchase that she was the actual…
News
TikTokers Want Justice For Woman Who Died On Bumble Date
The family of a Connecticut woman who was found dead in her apartment is upset over the way her death was handled is being backed by TikTok users. Lauren Smith-Fields, 23, of Bridgeport, was found dead in her apartment on Sunday, Dec. 12 by Bridgeport police after a date with 37-year-old Matthew LaFountain, whom she met on a dating site. LaFountain was the one who called to report her death, the family said at a news conference on Sunday, Jan. 16. More than a month after Smith-Fields died, her family still doesn't have a cause of death and is frustrated with the way they are being treated …
Police & Fire
Bergen Man Sexually Assaulted Essex County Teen He Met On Dating App, Prosecutor Says
A Bergen County man was charged with sexually assaulting an Essex County teen he met on a dating app, authorities said Wednesday. Bradley O'Dell, 57, exchanged messages online with the 13-year-old victim before arranging to meet in-person, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II and Belleville Police Chief Mark Minichini said. O'Dell sexually assaulted the victim on three separate occasions during September in Lyndhurst, Belleville and Nutley, Minichini and Stephens said. O'Dell was charged following an investigation by the Belleville Police Department with sexual …
News
Hookup Turns Into Robbery After Bergen Man Is Drugged By Online 'Date'
A Leonia man was set up by a woman who met him online, drugged him at his home and then robbed him with help from two other men, authorities said. Katherine Berg, 32, of Paterson went to the victim’s Grand Avenue home in the early morning hours of June 26 and slipped him a drug that knocked him out, Police Chief Scott Tamagny said. A medical call brought police around 11 a.m. the next day, the chief said. A family member had found the 30-something victim with “numerous injuries and no memory of what had occurred,” Tamagny said. More than 24 hours had passed and the victim was immediately…
Police & Fire
Piscataway Man, 45, Tried Having Sex With Girl, 15, Secaucus Police Say
A 45-year-old Piscataway man was arrested for trying to have sex with an individual who he believed was a 15-year-old girl, authorities said. Barry Sloben was chatting with the "girl" on an online dating app April 9, and drove to Walmart in Secaucus later that day to meet her -- although the was not successful in that attempt, Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller said. Sloben was arrested on April 26 at 8:26 p.m. following an investigation, Miller said. He was arrested at Secaucus Police Headquarters for Enticing a Child [2C:13-6A], and was served his complaint summons. Sloben was released…
Police & Fire
Prosecutor: Little Ferry Man Rapes, Holds Woman Captive After Drugging Her
A Little Ferry man who authorities said raped a woman at a local hotel after drugging and holding her captive for several hours smiled for his mugshot when he was booked into the Bergen County Jail. Amaurie Hernandez, 36, slipped the victim a date rape drug during a rendezvous after previously meeting met her online, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Tuesday. She told borough police that she showed up for the meeting at the Capri Inn just off Route 46 and ended up ingesting “surreptitiously provided” drugs that rendered her incoherent, Musella said. She eventually awoke, rea…
News
Here's One Pleasure Of The Flesh Health Officials Say You Must Avoid Amid Coronavirus
You can enjoy sex during the coronavirus pandemic if you follow certain precautions, but there’s one particular act of intimacy that health officials say you should avoid at all costs. Those getting busy amid the COVID-19 crisis should sleep only with people close to them in order to be safe – or, better yet, stick to self-serve, it seems. “You are your safest sex partner" -- or so a set of sex guidelines issued by the New York City Health Department says. The graphic guidelines, among other things, remind masters of their domains to “wash your hands (and any sex toys) with soap and w…
Police & Fire
Newark Woman Stabs Man On Their First Date: Police
Police in Newark say Zaniya Stevens was looking for love, but instead finds herself in a lot of trouble. Stevens, 23, was arrested after police were called to a North Ward apartment around 2 a.m. Stevens flagged down responding officers and told them she stabbed her date three times in self-defense, after he strangled her, police said in a statement. It was the first real-life meeting between the two, who'd had several previous online encounters. Responding officers questioned Stevens' claims of being attacked by the man, however, when they were unable to find any neck ab…
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