Online Dating Robbery
Police arrest three after online dating scam ends in robbery
Amanda Battazzi, 28
FRESNO – Two women and one man were arrested for setting up a date online with a man and then robbing him at gunpoint when he arrived for the meet up.
Fresno police said a 49-year-old man met a woman on Jan. 31 on the dating site myRedBook. They decided to meet up and he went to a residence in the 100 block of West Barstow Avenue to see her.
When he showed up, 22-year-old Brittnie Saunier answered the door. However, she was not the only one in the residence. Another woman, 28-year-old Amanda Battazzi, and a man, 29-year-old George Flores, soon appeared, threatening him with a gun.
The three suspects held the victim at gunpoint and demanded all of his belongings. They took his ATM card and made the victim give them his pin number.
Brittnie Saunier, 22
Flores, a Bulldog gang member, held the victim at gunpoint while the two women left the house. They drove to three banks and withdrew money from his account using his ATM card. When the women returned, the three suspects stole other items from the man’s car and then released him.
The victim called the police, which authorities say is not always an easy thing to do given the situation in which he found himself.
George Flores, 29
Surveillance video from the three ATMs the women visited helped investigators find the suspects. Saunier was the first to be arrested and the other two were arrested this week at an apartment in the 5200 block of north Fresno.
The three have been charged with robbery, carjacking, kidnapping and conspiracy.
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