Rash of fake-date robberies in Dothan -police make another arrest in most recent case
Matt Elofson Crime and courts reporter
Dothan, AL
Dothan police have arrested a 17-year-old boy in addition to a 16-year-old girl already charged in the third online fake-date scheme in Dothan in 2015.
Dothan Police Investigator Cpl. Jared Bladen said police arrested 17-year-old Efosa Willis and charged him with felony first-degree robbery and felony second-degree kidnapping.
Bladen said police are looking for several more suspects in the three pending fake-date robbery schemes being worked by Dothan police investigators.
Dothan police made an arrest in the most recent case on Monday, charging Breanna Hunter, 16, of Johnson Circle, with felony first-degree robbery and felony second-degree kidnapping.
Bladen said the police investigation showed Hunter met the victim on a website called Tagged.com and started a series of messaging, which most recently led to several phone calls setting up a meeting. He said Hunter told the victim she was 19 years old and gave him directions on how to meet her in the parking lot of Johnson Homes in Dothan.
The victim told police that when he arrived he was assaulted by several unidentified teenage males and robbed in the parking lot around 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 21.
Bladen said police are still looking for several teenage males. He said police identified Willis as one of the suspects in the robbery and kidnapping.
“They forced him (the victim) at gunpoint to go to the Kangaroo (convenience store),” Bladen said. “They actually put him in the back seat of his own car.”
Bladen said the suspects were unsuccessful in getting any money after they couldn’t get the victim's ATM card to work. The suspects then left the store, leaving the victim behind.
Bladen said he worked a very similar case about a month ago, which resulted in the arrest of Shantoria Lashay Owens, 20, of Johnson Circle. He charged Owens with first-degree armed robbery.
Bladen said police learned the victim in the Owens’ robbery met her online at a website called plentyoffish.com.
“They began messaging, she arranged a place and time to meet and when he got there he was also ambushed,” Bladen said.
Bladen said the victim in the Owens’ robbery case was assaulted and robbed by two unidentified men late at night behind Carver Magnet School. Police are still looking for information leading to the identity of the two males involved in the assault.
Police also arrested three more people in another unrelated but similar scheme in October.
Police arrested Larry McKisseth, 25, of Chevy Drive, Justice Burks, 20, of Dakota Street, and Kellie Marie Long, 20, of Johnson Circle, and charged each of them with felony first-degree armed robbery and felony first-degree kidnapping.
Dothan Police Lt. Will Glover said the victim of the robbery and kidnapping had met and messaged one of the suspects through an online dating website, and set up a meeting at a local Dothan motel. Glover said when the victim arrived at the motel between 10 and 11 p.m., the suspects held him at gunpoint.
Glover said the suspects forced the victim to drive to an ATM and withdraw money from his account. The suspects then dropped the victim off unharmed.
Bladen said initial preliminary investigations show the three investigations do not appear to be related to each other. But at least one suspect in each case is from Johnson Circle in Johnson Homes. And at least one of the suspects in each of the cases was a teenager at the time of their arrest. Hunter is 16, and both Owens and Long were 19 at the time of their arrests.
“We’re getting more reports of this happening, that this is a new way to victimize people. How they’re using social media or dating websites to lure in potential victims,” Bladen said. “If you’re meeting someone you don’t know on the internet, choose a well lit place and be safe about it. Don’t go by yourself.”
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