Indiana Man Dubbed ‘Internet Casanova’ to Face Charges
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(INDIANAPOLIS) — The man dubbed the “Internet Casanova” for breaking hearts online is now facing charges for not just stealing women’s hearts but also their money.
Authorities allege that Ray Holycross, 29, who also went by the names Ray Cross and Ray Tompson, scammed and robbed more than 38 women in at least seven states.
Holycross, of Plymouth, Ind., will be arraigned on Friday in an Indiana courtroom on one charge of theft, accused of stealing the camera of Theresa Bridegroom, a woman from Mishawaka, Ind., according to ABC News affiliate RTV6.
Police say Holycross spent years logging onto dating websites to meet women before moving in with them and then stealing from them.
Bridegroom, 35, began dating Holycross in September. Police arrested him at the apartment they shared on Tuesday after Bridegroom discovered he pawned her camera and turned him in, RTV6 reports.
Holycross is also wanted in Oregon on two counts stemming from an identity theft charge.
“I think he relies on girls that he meets on the Internet to provide him with what he needs to get through life,” Lt. Michael Budreau of the Medford Police Department in Oregon told ABC’s Good Morning America in August as the first reports of his alleged fraud emerged.
Jennifer Clark told GMA in August that she met Holycross on the online dating site PlentyofFish.com. She was smitten, she said, and the two quickly moved in together.
“We lived together in my house,” she said. “I decided I wanted to help him.”
Clark told GMA that Holycross convinced her to sell her home and her car and promised to move to Chicago with her. Instead, he took her laptop and iPhone, withdrew nearly $1,000 from her bank account, and then vanished, she said.
“He made me feel like he was going to take care of me and, instead, I was left with absolutely nothing,” Clark said.
Many of the women who met Holycross online told a similar story. They said he is an online charmer who took off with their cash once they let him into their lives and homes.
ABC News has also learned of allegations against Holycross from male victims, who claim he swindled them out of money and other possessions.
Even his own brother refused to defend him.
“He digs holes, gets into lies and it’s just a non-stop thing,” David Holycross said. “My heart goes out to all the victims. And if anyone has the opportunity to avoid my brother after seeing this, do so.”
Attempts to reach Ray Holycross were unsuccessful.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio