Timothy Ruge allegedly tried to blackmail a man on Grindr by threatening to out him to his fiancee. | Photo: 9News
An Australian man has pleaded guilty to extortion after allegedly using Grindr to blackmail another man by threatening to tell his girlfriend that he was using the gay hookup app.
Timothy Ruge, 34, pleaded guilty to making an unwarranted demand for money with menaces at Melbourne’s Magistrates Court on 21 August.
The court heard how Ruge used Grindr to ‘chat and flirt’ with the man after matching on the app.
But within minutes Ruge allegedly sent a picture of the man’s fiancee to him.
‘She’s pretty, you cheating bastard,’ Ruge sent to the man.
He then proceeded to threaten the man tried to extort AU$1,300 (US$948).
‘Cardless cash me $500 now, then $500 in 30 mins ARE WE CLEAR,’ court documents showed Ruge saying to the man.
He then concluded his messages with: ‘And I vanish’, according to a report in The Age.
Grindr date: ‘I was freaking out my missus was going to find out’
The man agreed to transfer Ruge $200 saying he couldn’t afford more and that the online banking kept crashing.
‘She handles all my money,’ the man told Ruge.
To which Ruge allegedly replied: ‘tick tock I’ll ask her for it then shall I. Tick tock.’
The pair then met at a train station where the man reportedly handed $200. Ruge then deleted the messages.
But later that day Ruge text the man asking for another $300.
Police searched Ruge’s apartment and charged him on 3 May. He made his first court appearance shortly after.
‘I went home feeling like s—. I was freaking out my missus was going to find out,’ the man said.
‘I am still on my toes. I still feel helpless and confused.’
Ruge will appear at the County Court on 9 November before he is sentenced.
