Sexual Assault Suspect Accused of Using Dating App to Lure Victims to His Apartment
Above: Tobias Bartee booking photo
Courtesy of Escondido PD
Over the past four months, the Escondido Police Department has been investigating a series of sexual assaults allegedly involving a man accused of using a fake identity on a dating app to lure victims to his home.
In four separate cases, adult males reportedly fell victim to a ruse allegedly perpetrated through the dating app Grindr. The victims had engaged in conversations with and agreed to meet an individual on who presented themselves as a white male and used a fake name. Upon arriving at the man’s apartment, they were met by a different individual, identified as Tobias Bartee, 28.
When the victims entered the apartment, Bartee allegedly informed them that the person they thought they were meeting was not home. The victims were then allegedly forcibly restrained and sexually assaulted. Two of the victims also reported that Bartee had been armed with a handgun.
On September 15th, detectives and SWAT personnel from the Escondido Police Department served a search warrant at Bartee’s home. Bartee was ultimately arrested on suspicion of kidnapping with intent to commit rape, sodomy by force, oral copulation by force, assault with intent to commit rape, and assault with a deadly weapon with strangulation.
Police say that Bartee had been using photos of other people to create a false identity on Grindr.
The Escondido Police Department encourages anyone who may have been a victim of Bartee to reach out to Detective Jesse Santaniello at (760) 839-4768.
