Editor's note: This story contains mentions of sexual assault that some readers may find disturbing.
A Denver cardiologist who conducted a “rape spree” in Denver between 2019 and 2023 by drugging and sexually assaulting women he met online was flagged multiple times to the dating websites he used and the company didn’t do anything to stop it, a lawsuit filed in Denver court Tuesday claims.
The company that runs Tinder, Hinge and several other well-known dating apps, including OKCupid and Plenty of Fish, was alerted that one of its users, Dr. Stephen Matthews, was drugging and assaulting women starting at least in September 2020.
Rather than reporting him to law enforcement or at least shutting his profile down, the company “continued to welcome” the doctor on its apps and encouraged other women to get in touch for in-person romantic encounters, the complaint alleges.
In August 2024, a Denver jury convicted Matthews of more than 30 charges related to drugging and sex assaults of 11 women between 2019 and 2023. He was sentenced to 158 years in prison.
The civil claim against IAC, Inc., Match Group Inc., filed Tuesday alleges the multi-billion dollar global conglomerates, which steer roughly 66 percent of the industry market share in 190 countries, didn’t do nearly enough to safeguard women by allowing Matthews to continue on the apps — despite multiple complaints against him.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages for negligence, failure to warn the dating apps’ consumers, misrepresentation, violations of the state’s Consumer Protection Act, and sexual battery against Matthews.
The company has not yet responded to a request for comment.
The lawsuit represents six Jane Doe victims, all but one of whom still live in the Denver metro area. One of the women, Jane Doe No. 5, has moved to Nebraska after being assaulted by Matthews on Oct. 30, 2022.
That date started at a public park, where Matthews brought his “adorable dog,” according to the lawsuit. The doctor suggested the two get brunch, but first, he told the woman he wanted to drop off the dog at his townhouse nearby.
She followed him over there. Once inside, Jane Doe 5 used his restroom. When she came out, Matthews was making Bloody Marys. She drank one. After the drink, she said she remembers playing cornhole. She next remembers vomiting and being in his bed with her pants off. She has no recollection of getting in her car and driving home, but she woke up in her own bed.
This was common Matthews behavior, according to the complaint. He often used his dog as an excuse to get women into his house for what he always said in advance would be a brief stop. Then he would mix a drink with unknown pharmaceuticals for the women. Often they would play Jenga, the complaint said, and he would ask them to sign a Jenga block. He would eventually assault them, usually when they were blacked out or completely unconscious.
The apps allowed Stephens to keep his profile, even after he was flagged by several women, the complaint states. When his profiles were taken down, the complaint says it was easy for Matthews to create new ones with the switch of an email and phone number. In some of the cases, he even used the same profile pictures, the lawsuit said.
In one of the profile pictures shown in the complaint, Matthews is wearing a white physician coat and talks about how he likes Colorado’s outdoors, happy hours and homemade dinners.
All of this happened while Hinge communicated to the complainants that it was effectively banning users who violated its community standards, the lawsuit said. In actuality, the infrastructure to report abuse was defective and “essentially useless” because of how easy it is for people to create new profiles, the claim said.
Lawyers allege since at least 2016, Match Group knew the risk of rapes on its platform and knew the websites lacked operable infrastructure for banning people and “that rapists could migrate across its apps” but failed to disclose that to consumers, the complaint said.
Hinge, in particular, lacks safety features that Match Group provides in other dating applications. Michael Lawrie, the lead of the safety team for OkCupid, for example, said his team introduced tools to fix the shortcomings, the complaint said. One such tool could automatically ban a profile that was linked to a phone number, photo, video or URL that had been previously banned -- even if the user made an account with a different email or IP address.
But the company never implemented these protocols at Hinge, he said, according to the lawsuit.
Over half of all adults under 30 have used dating apps, and a high percentage of violent sexual predators also use dating apps, according to several studies, the complaint stated. One hundred percent of the perpetrators were men when dating apps were involved in the set up, the complaint said.
On Sept. 28, 2020, a 33-year-old woman met Matthews on Hinge. They went on a first date at a park and then walked to his nearby apartment. Once they arrived, he made the woman a drink that she recalls “tasting off.” She woke up hours later naked on his floor. She called her friends and family and went to the hospital where it was confirmed through a rape exam that she had sexual intercourse.
The following day, she reported the incident to Hinge, saying “I was raped … after a first date with an individual I met and communicated with via Hinge,” according to the lawsuit.
On Sept. 29, the safety team responded that they received your report and they take abuse reporting very seriously and that “we’ll be taking immediate steps,” the lawsuit said.
Three months later, Hinge again recommended Matthews to the woman for another date.
If you need help, dial 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also reach the Colorado Crisis Services hotline at 1-844-493-8255 or text “TALK” to 38255 to speak with a trained counselor or professional. Counselors are also available at walk-in locations or online to chat.
