Chancler Enclade, 20, has pleaded guilty to hate-crime assaults on other men because of their sexuality
Three men used the popular dating app Grindr to meet gay men with the sole purpose of attacking them because of their sexual orientation.
A third Texas man has pleaded guilty to hate-crime assaults on other men. Chancler Enclade, 20, has admitted to using the dating website to meet gay men and then assault and rob them.
Previously, Nigel Garrett, 21, and Cameron Ajiduah, 18, entered similar pleas to crimes under the federal hate-crimes statute.
Encalade, Garrett and Ajiduah have admitted that they and another man, Anthony Shelton, 19, used a dating website for gay men to arrange to meet their victims in the victims’ homes.
Once there, they would bound their victim with tape, physically assault and verbally abuse the man for being gay, then steal items from their homes.
The victims were also taunted about their sexuality before their homes were robbed, magistrates heard.
Garrett, 21 (left) and Ajiduah, 18 (pictured), said that they, along with Anthony Shelton, 19, used the dating website to meet gay men in the victims’ homes
According to the indictment, they used at least one firearm during the crimes.
The attacks occurred from January to February 7, 2017 in Plano, Frisco, and Aubrey, Texas.
The men could be sentenced to up to life in prison and fined up to $250,000. No sentencing date has been set. Shelton still awaits trial.
The men posed as gay men on the gay men’s dating app Grindr in order to assault them
‘The Justice Department will not tolerate hate crimes against any individual based on sexual orientation,’ said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore.
‘Hate crimes are violent crimes, but also attack the fundamental principles of the United States.
‘The Justice Department will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute hate crimes.’