GUARDIANS OF GRINDR

Grindr Vigilantes’ Sting Operation in New Jersey Backfires

Though the vigilantes were able to extract enough information to arrest two alleged child predators, their aggressive tactics landed them in handcuffs, too.

Two New Jersey men set up their own sting operation on Grindr to nab would-be child predators—but their vigilante tactics were so aggressive they ended up in handcuffs, too. In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, Edison police received a report that led to the arrest of two men: Anthony Cotos, 29, of Edison, and Jordan Grundy, 21, of North Plainsfield. The pair were charged with enticing a child and endangering the welfare of a minor, NJ.com reports. But as a 34-year-old man filed a report explaining the information he had on the pair, police became alarmed. Apparently the man and a 26-year-old accomplice posed as a 15-year-old boy on Grindr. When men arrived to meet up with the assumed teen, the vigilantes would force the men into the back of a car for severe interrogations that allegedly included threats of castration. Though the Grindr guardians were able to extract enough information to identify their catfished victims, they were charged with third-degree criminal restraint and terroristic threats.