A dating scam that resulted in victims being robbed at gunpoint was busted by police after a woman who lured her ‘date’ to a hotel room failed to clear her contact number from his mobile phone.
Police traced the number to the woman, called ‘Lisa’, and set a trap which resulted in the arrest on Saturday of two women and two men from Philadelphia for a string of robberies.
The first dates started typically enough with dinner at an Italian restaurant. But they ended in a Bensalem motel room with the man naked and staring down the barrel of a gun.
Bensalem police said they know of at least four robberies in March, but have asked for any other victims to come forward.
Officers had been trailing the group after a man reported being robbed on March 1 at the Sunrise Inn on Lincoln Highway, court records stated.
Four days later, the suspects were caught after police burst into a motel room to find one man naked and another man pointing a gun at him while three other suspects stood by, police said.
The four people arrested were Lisa Sourbine, 35, of Frankford Avenue; Jennifer Partington, 36, of Oxford Avenue; John Taimanglo, 27, of Van Dyke Street; and Tariq Martin, 28, of Torresdale Avenue.
The dating website the group used was Canada-based lavalife that offers three ‘communities’ – dating, relationships and ‘intimate encounters’.
The first victim to contact the police said he met a woman called ‘Lisa’ on the website and after several phone conversations took her out to dinner at the Olive Garden on Philadelphia’s Roosevelt Boulevard.
After an hour, the woman, identified as Sourbine, suggested they go to a motel, police said. Once inside the room, ‘Lisa’ began texting on her cell phone. Then she told the man to take his clothes off while she went to the bathroom, police said.
Minutes later, ‘Lisa’Â answered a knock on the door to find a man standing outside with a gun, police said.
‘Give me all your money, cell phone and wallet or I will kill you,’ the armed man, identified as Taimanglo allegedly said.
‘You better listen to him,’ Sourbine allegedly told her date. ‘He is my ex and he will kill you.’
After the robbery, the man found his cell phone outside. Many of the numbers had been erased but not the one belonging to ‘Lisa’, police said.
Later that night, detectives traced the number to Sourbine, whose driver’s licence photo showed the same blonde-haired woman the man allegedly met online.
Two nights later, police were called by another robbery victim who said he had met ‘Lisa’ on lavalife and arranged to meet her at the Italian Bistro on Welsh Road and Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia, police said.
Sourbine was accompanied by a friend Jen, who police identified as Partington, court records stated. After dinner, the three reportedly went back to the Sunrise.
The women started taking off their clothes and told the man to do the same, police said. After a knock at the door, Taimanglo allegedly entered with a gun.
The victim began to fight with Taimanglo but the two women joined in the attack and completed the robbery, police said.
Two nights late, police staked out the Sunrise where they watched two masked men enter a room at the back of the building, police said.
Officers burst into the room to find one man naked and another man – identified as Martin – pointing a gun at the date, police said. The three other suspects – Sourbine, Partington and Taimanglo – were allegedly in the room as well.
Later that night, Sourbine and Partington told police the four had been involved in another robbery at the Knights Inn in Bensalem the night before, court records stated.
All four face charges that include robbery, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and a string of related counts.
District Judge Michael Burns sent Sourbine and Partington to Bucks County Prison in lieu of $150,000 bail. Martin’s bail was $250,000. Taimanglo’s was $500,000.
Sourbine’s cell phone number, which was listed in court documents, went straight to voice mail, which recorded a message left for her father.
‘I’m at Bucks County Correctional Facility prison,’ she said. ‘I’m going to be here for quite a few … I can’t even tell you … I’m looking at a long time.’
