The Justice Department said Wednesday that a Louisiana man was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison for kidnapping and attempting to murder a homosexual adolescent as part of a more extensive hate crime operation targeting guys on an LGBTQ dating app.
What had happened?
Chance Seneca, 21, pled guilty in September, confessing to kidnapping the adolescent he met on Grindr, intending to murder and dismember him. The Justice Department said that Seneca’s decades-long sentence was based on some grounds, including that Seneca purposely targeted the youngster and other homosexual males because of their sexual orientation.
Seneca spent months, according to the Justice Department, “planning a murder-kidnapping operation that matched the deaths of homosexual males committed by the legendary serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer.” It went on to say that, like Dahmer, Seneca planned to devour and save the body parts of his victims.
He was targeting the LGBTQ+ community
“The facts of this case are truly shocking, and the defendant’s decision to specifically target gay men is a disturbing reminder of the unique prejudices and dangers that the LGBTQ+ community faces today,” Kristen Clarke, an assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s civil rights division, said in a statement. “All Americans, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, should have access to and trust in the internet.”
Seneca confessed last year that he planned to kill the victim, Holden White, 18 at the time, in June 2020 “to gratify his homicidal desires,” according to a prior Justice Department statement. White was in a coma for three days after the heinous assault.
Seneca admitted to the Justice Department on Wednesday that he planned to kill additional homosexual males until he was apprehended or died. Seneca reportedly attempted to abduct another man and allegedly kidnapped another within days of his assault on White, according to an earlier Justice Department statement.
On Wednesday, White wrote a brief statement on Facebook, seemingly in response to Seneca’s sentence: “45 years.”
How did he carry out his plan?
The Louisiana instance is one of several where people have used Grindr, a dating app established in 2009 and primarily used by homosexual men, to target LGBTQ persons all around the world.
In 2016, Stephen Port, also known as “The Grindr Killer,” was given a life sentence for drugging, raping, and killing four men he met on the app. There were reports in 2018 that Egyptian authorities and locals were exploiting Grindr and other gay dating apps to catch and persecute gay men. A guy from Texas was sentenced to 23 years in federal prison beginning in 2021 for committing a string of robberies, carjackings, and other crimes in the Dallas area while using the gay social networking app Grindr. The offences took place in December 2017.
“We agree with Assistant Attorney General Clarke that the internet should be accessible and secure for all individuals, regardless of gender or sexual orientation,” said Patrick Lenihan, vice president and worldwide head of communications at Grindr. “Grindr will continue to strive for a safer, better future for the LGBTQ community.”
In a statement issued Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Brandon B. Brown stated that hate crimes “are a key priority for the Department and our office, and we take these types of cases very seriously.”
“It is critical that we all stay watchful and cautious when we use the internet in our daily lives to prevent circumstances that may lead to negative behavior on the part of others,” Brown said.
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