GRINDR HATE CRIMES

Two Texas men pleaded guilty to federal hate crime and other charges for using the dating app Grindr to target gay men for violent crimes.

Daryl Henry, 24, pleaded guilty to a charge of committing a hate crime and another of conspiracy to commit a hate crime. Pablo Ceniceros-Deleon, 19, pleaded guilty to a charge of committing a hate crime, a second for carjacking and third charge for use of a firearm related to a violent crime, the Justice Department announced Friday.

According to court documents filed in connection with the two men’s guilty pleas, Henry and Ceniceros-Deleon admitted they used Grindr to target and lure gay men to a vacant apartment and other locations around Dallas to commit hate crimes, including robbing, carjacking or kidnapping their victims.

Henry admitted that he and others held the victims against their will in the vacant apartment, while Ceniceros-Deleon confessed that he and others used local ATMs to withdraw cash from the victims’ accounts. The two men also taunted their victims about their sexual orientation.

Ceniceros-Deleon also admitted that he was the gunman in a 2017 carjacking in which he and others used Grindr to target a gay man. They then forced the man at gunpoint to drive to local ATMs.