One of the three inmates who escaped from the DeKalb Jail in Georgia on Monday was convicted of federal hate crimes and serving a life prison sentence over violent attacks targeting gay men on Grindr. Authorities recaptured the three men by Monday evening.

While conducting a routine security check, jail guards noticed that Stevenson Charles and two other men had escaped. Authorities didn’t explain how the men escaped or how long they had been gone before guards noticed.

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U.S. Marshals, who assisted in relocating the escaped fugitives, revealed that Charles arranged for someone to pick up the three inmates in a vehicle and transport them to the house of one of their girlfriends. She reportedly arranged a rideshare service to take the inmates to Florida from there. Police discovered the men in Broward County, Florida, where they were then arrested and returned to prison.

The U.S. Marshals Service considered all three men armed and dangerous, but warned that Charles was “especially dangerous,” WAGA-TV reported. Marshals noted that Charles, age 24, had been charged with or convicted of murder, aggravated assault, weapons violations, sodomy on a person less than 10 years old, kidnapping, carjacking, armed robbery, and probation violations.

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Part of Charles’ criminal history included targeting men in South Florida through the queer male hookup app Grindr between October and November 2022, according to a February 2023 Department of Justice press release. On three instances, Charles robbed his victims at gunpoint, stealing their phones, one couple’s wedding rings, and forcing them to withdraw over $2,500 from automated teller machines.

In one instance, he met a victim and “forced a sexual act at gunpoint” before robbing him, according to WXIA. In another instance, he shot a man several times, including once in the head — but the man survived and eventually led police to Charles’ arrest.

Charles told one of his victims that he hated gay people and believed they should be punished. In another instance, he hit the victim with a gun several times, saying that he would kill other gay men.

In December 2024, Charles pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, aggravated sodomy, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of armed robbery, and two counts of aggravated assault. His crimes received federal hate crime enhancements for targeting gay men.

“Let the message go out to Mr. Charles and all other fugitives. We are looking for, and we will find you,” Thomas E. Brown, the U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Georgia, said in a statement before the capture, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Any person who violates the laws of the United States will not be allowed a moment of rest. You will never find peace. You will answer for your crimes.”

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