Dorchester Man Charged In Dating App Robberies Held On $75K Bail
BOSTON (CBS) -- A Dorchester man who prosecutors say used a dating app to arrange a string of robberies last fall was arraigned Monday in Suffolk County District Court.
Rakeem Austin, 30, is charged with nine counts of armed robbery. He was held on $75,000 bail.
Prosecutors said Austin posed as women on a dating app and arranged to meet nine men between October 2 and November 10 of 2015. They said those men, expecting to meet a woman named "Lizzy S" or "Candy B," instead encountered Austin, who stole cash, wallets, electronics, and jewelry from them at gunpoint.
The Suffolk District Attorney's office said a GPS monitor Austin was wearing at the time placed him in the area of each of the nine armed robberies when they occurred. Austin was wearing the GPS device while free on bail in another case, in which where he faced breaking and entering charges.
Police said they were able to access account info for the dating app profiles of "Lizzy S" and "Candy B," and that both listed a phone number Austin was using.
Austin was arrested November 21 at an Edson street home close to where several of the robberies had occurred. When he was arrested, police found he was carrying a phone stolen in a robbery that had occurred earlier that day, as well as a phone linked to the dating app accounts.
Austin had previously been arraigned in six of the nine armed robberies in Dorchester Municipal Court. He is set to return to court on April 22.
