Grindr fiend: Thomas Samas cruised app hunting ‘soft target’ armed robbery victims
A Mernda meth head cruised Grindr hunting “soft target” robbery victims. But the crook’s plot came unstuck when his intended victim turned out to be an old schoolmate.
South East
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An ice-riddled desperado used a fake alias to cruise Grindr hunting for victims to rob at knifepoint.
Thomas Samas sent “sexualised” messages to 37 Grindr users under the pseudonym “Timothy Hines” in March this year, a court heard, asking users if they had a car and would travel to him.
Samas, who was on bail and a community corrections order, messaged one victim just after 1am on March 27.
He asked the man if he wanted to “blow and go in you’re (sic) car?” and “come see me”.
The victim continued communicating with Samas via Snapchat, and recognised a photo Samas had sent via Snapchat as both men attended Loyola College together.
The victim drove to the Mernda meeting spot just after 1.30am where a “jittery” Samas got into his car.
“This is a bad situation,” Samas said.
To which the man replied: “what do you want me to do?”
“You can give me your car,” Samas said.
The man drove to Mernda station after Samas produced a knife.
Samas demanded the victim’s car keys and phone but the frightened victim took both items and ran from the car.
He was able to escape and alert police to his attacker’s true identity.
Samas was arrested the next day.
He admitted using a Grindr alias while on meth but denied the attempted robbery.
Samas said the man “misunderstood the situation” and was “under the impression I was trying to steal his car”.
Samas, 22, was sentenced in the County Court on October 25 to a minimum 14 months’ prison after pleading guilty to attempted armed robbery.
Judge Michael Tinney said Samas’s claim he planned to have a sexual encounter and not rob the man was “at first blush a bit hard for me to swallow”.
“You had decided to commit the offence … you chose instead to commit this serious crime upon a person who you well knew was quite vulnerable.
“It was a soft target attempted robbery upon a lone vulnerable male in the early hours of the morning.
“You produced the knife you made the demand in what was obviously a frightening event … he fled from his car.”
Judge Tinney warned Samas his rehabilitation prospects would “plummet” if he continued to use drugs.
He said Samas had “tasted adult jail” before but this didn’t stop him offending.
“You’re not some silly teenager, you were 21, you’re on bail and also on a community corrections order when you chose to offend in this way,” he said.
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Samas, who also pleaded guilty to committing an offence while on bail, was sentenced to a maximum 28 months’ prison.
He had spent 211 days in custody at time of sentencing.