A Michigan man is appealing his conviction after a 27-year-old undercover police officer allegedly used his own adult selfies to pose as a 15-year-old during a Grindr sting operation.
The officer reportedly uploaded images of his muscular, visibly adult torso, falsified a birthdate to bypass Grindr’s 18+ age requirement, and enabled “ghost mode” to hide his listed age from other users.
Evan Lakatos, 34, began messaging the profile and exchanged more than 100 messages over two days before arranging a hotel meeting. Michigan’s age of consent is 16, and Lakatos maintains he believed he was speaking to an adult.
He was arrested on arrival and convicted of accosting a child for immoral purposes and communicating via the internet to commit a crime, spending 71 days in jail and being placed on the state’s public sex offender registry.
Claims of unclear age and police misconduct
Lakatos’ legal team argues the officer never explicitly stated he was underage during the more than 20 hours of conversation. The closest reference was: “My cousin finally got the room for me I guess you have to be older than 15 to get a room.” Lakatos responded without acknowledging the age remark.
Court documents state the officer initiated the meeting and escalated the sexual nature of the conversation, writing, “I want the dominant man to tell me what he wants,” and “Tell me more daddy.” Prosecutors counter that terms like “daddy” and “boy” should have signalled to Lakatos the person was underage, though defence lawyers note these are common slang in gay culture.
Lakatos also repeatedly asked for face photos, which the officer avoided, and he claims any request to bring alcohol was prompted by the officer. Prosecutors say agreeing to bring alcohol demonstrates intent to supply a minor.
Allegations of widespread Grindr stings
Lakatos’ appellate attorney, Dominica Convertino, said similar operations are being conducted statewide, sometimes involving multi-county task forces. Under Michigan guidelines, officers must explicitly state they are underage and allow the suspect to initiate sexual discussion — steps not taken in this case.
The sentencing judge in Lakatos’ original trial remarked that the officers “could have been a little bit more explicit in terms of the age requirement” and noted it was problematic that a “full-grown male that was very muscular” was used to depict a 15-year-old.
Grindr told Pride Source: “We are committed to upholding high standards of trust and user safety… Any activity involving undercover stings, false identities or deception by third parties is in direct violation of this policy.”
Broader concerns about fake profiles
The case comes amid a rise in fake Grindr accounts used to target gay men — either to falsely accuse them of crimes or lure them for robbery and assault.
Last week, a 20-year-old Queensland man pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm in company and stealing after using a fake Grindr profile to lure a victim. Similar attacks have been reported in Sydney, Canberra, Victoria, and Western Australia. In May, Victorian police announced the arrest of 35 people — mostly teenage boys — over such offences in an eight-month period.
