Diego Marques-Santos used the dating app Grindr to meet his victims. Photo / 123RF
He lured men in by a dating app; he was Brazilian, Portuguese, Italian; he was whatever they wanted him to be; he made them trust him. Then he bled their bank accounts dry as they lay unconscious in their own homes. Rob Kidd unmasks the man and speaks to a victim of his crimes ...
Brazilian tourist Diego Marques-Santos loved New Zealand — he had the national flag tattooed on his chest to prove it, reports Otago Daily Times.
The 32-year-old was a hit with the Kiwi guys too.
Using the dating app Grindr, he met like-minded men; they bought food and drinks and went home. Sometimes they had sex.
When Dave commented that the wine seemed gritty, the man told him, unflinchingly, it was not uncommon with South American wine.
It sounded true.
And then the darkness came.
Prof Paul Glue of the University of Otago's School of Medicine, said clonazepam was a benzodiazepine from the same family as the more common "roofie", or date-rape drug, Rohypnol.
He said it was often prescribed to combat anxiety and insomnia but was also used to treat epilepsy.
With his victim comatose on the couch, Marques-Santos pocketed his credit card and left the house.
From there they got wine from the supermarket and the victim's suspicions mounted.
He punched his PIN into the terminal quickly, as he felt the man was watching.
But they continued home where Marques-Santos insisted he pour the drinks.
Scott noted his wine appeared to be cloudier than his friend's but Marques-Santos put his mind at ease, pretending to consume some of the spiked drink.
He had loaded it with so much clonazepam, the victim was out cold for 12 hours.
It gave the Brazilian plenty of time to withdraw $1920 from an ATM and spend more than $300 online on Apple products using the stolen card.
Four days later he made off with almost $1000 and his final victim in the city was hit even harder.
Leaving the man unconscious in bed, Marques-Santos withdrew $2000 from an ATM before making 59 online purchases including an airline ticket to Invercargill.
He may not have expected his stay in the Southland city to last three and a-half years.
When Marques-Santos appeared before the Dunedin District Court last month, he was sentenced by Judge Kevin Phillips to that term, to be served at Invercargill Prison.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to four counts of stupefying with intent to commit an imprisonable offence and five of using a document for a pecuniary advantage.
The inmate would be deported as soon as he was eligible, the court heard.
"They invited you into their home, they trust you, they like you, found you a person they wanted to be around ... and you were sussing them out all the way through," he said.
"If more alcohol could have been consumed, cardiac arrest and death could have followed. This medication with alcohol can cause death, full stop."
Netsafe chief technology officer Sean Lyons said "hook-up apps" like Grindr and Tinder were ideal vehicles for such scams.
The victims were, on the whole, less likely to tell anyone about the rendezvous beforehand and might not disclose the crime to police due to embarrassment, he said.
But the technology could not be blamed for such incidents.
"It's not about the app to some extent ... The facilitation of harm is done by the people who may use these tools. It's a person who's motivated to cause harm to another person," Lyons told the ODT.
AUG 27: Calling himself "Hunter", meets victim 1 at Nelson McDonald's. Mixes clonazepam with orange juice at the man's house. Steals eftpos card, withdraws $2480 from victim's account at ATM.
AUG 31: Meets victim 2 as "Michael" at Nelson McDonald's. Spikes drink at man's home. Steals two credit cards and a driver's licence, withdraws $960 from victim's account at Richmond ATM.
SEPT 4: Using the name "Miguel Marquez" meets victim 3. After spending three nights at his house, he spikes the man's drink during dinner. Takes credit card, makes 59 withdrawals and online purchases totalling $4642.
SEPT 10: Meets victim 4 as "Thiago". Claims to be from Portugal studying at the local polytechnic. Goes to the victim's house for pizza and wine. Mixes the medication with the man's drink, steals his credit card but enters the wrong PIN at ATM.
SEPT 18: Calling himself "Leonardo" from Milan, meets victim 5 at Dunedin cafe. Mixes clonazepam with wine. Pretends to drink it to prove it is fine. Steals two bank cards, withdraws cash and makes online purchases worth $2262.