Couple accused of robbing Phoenix man they met on Tinder, stealing his car
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - A couple is in custody after police say they lured a man the woman met on a dating app to rob him and steal his car in Phoenix earlier this month. The victim told police he met a woman named “Sonya” on the Tinder dating app. He had arranged to meet her at the Embassy Suites hotel near 26th Street and Camelback Road around 10 a.m. on Sept. 17. When he got to the hotel, he went to her room to find a woman, later identified as 33-year-old Crystal Hulsey, and another man, who was identified as 32-year-old Jose Jaquez, inside. Jaquez pointed a gun at the man and demanded his cellphone, ID and social media and bank information, according to court documents.
Hulsey and Jaquez made the man drive them to a nearby Chase Bank and give them $900, police said. After leaving the bank, Hulsey and Jaquez took off with the man’s red Scion and withdrew an additional $2,100 from his bank account using online apps, court records said. The man then called the police.
According to court documents, Hulsey and Jaquez took the car to California and Las Vegas, where officers tried to pull them over. However, they ran away from the police, ditched the car and got a ride back to Phoenix. Police found the car on Sunday.
Investigators found out about the couple because they said they used their real names for the hotel and the withdrawals from the victim’s account. So police set up an undercover operation to catch them on Wednesday. Officers said they responded to Hulsey’s escort ad and asked her to meet them at the La Quinta Inn hotel in Phoenix. Court documents say that when Hulsey and Jaquez arrived, they suspected they were being watched and sped away, driving on the wrong side of Jefferson Street near 27th Avenue. Their car reportedly ran out of gas, so they hit another driver and carjacked their vehicle, police said.
Officers attempted to pull over Hulsey and Jaquez as they drove through the East Valley but were unsuccessful. Hulsey and Jaquez then drove up the Beeline Highway to Happy Jack, where they drove on the wrong side of the road and crashed into another vehicle. Police say that as Hulsey and Jaquez attempted to flee and steal another car, the Department of Public Safety helicopter landed on the road and troopers took them into custody. Hulsey and Jaquez were booked into jail on charges of assault, armed robbery with a deadly weapon, robbery, and two counts of vehicle theft.
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