An Illinois Christian school teacher is accused of using the gay hookup app Grindr to set up unsuspecting victims to violently rob them, with investigators linking him to two cases so far.
Antoine Perteet, a physical education instructor and security officer at the Lions Mathematics and Science Christian Academy in Waukegan, about an hour outside Chicago, is implicated in incidents that took place in June and October 2023, officials say.
Prosecutors say Perteet and another unnamed suspect invaded the home of a Cicero man who the teacher had been chatting with on Grindr before allegedly tying him up, gagging him, and robbing him at gunpoint on October 8, reports CWBChicago.
“At one point, Perteet made the man reveal his phone password, prosecutors said, and Perteet thumbed through the device as he pressed his foot into the man’s face,” the local outlet said.
Previous coverage of that particular incident revealed that prosecutor Matthew Larkin told Judge Susana Ortiz in a recent detention hearing that the victim provided Perteet with his home address so they could meet.
The victim was walking his dog in front of his home when Perteet and another person arrived in Perteet’s car, Larkin said.
“Perteet allegedly raised his shirt to expose a handgun and led the victim inside,” the outlet reported of the hearing transcripts. “He forced the man to lie face down in the bedroom as the second person entered the apartment… The pair forced the victim to unlock his phone and bank accounts.”
While the victim’s limbs were restrained by belts and his eyes and mouth were covered, both suspects allegedly ransacked the home for valuables, “eventually leaving with a container of coins, about $50 cash, the victim’s phone, smartwatch, and his keys, said Larkin.”
After the victim was finally able to free himself and call 911, Cicero police obtained surveillance footage of what occurred outside the home and investigators determined that Perteet’s car and phone were in the area at the time of the home invasion.
Perteet is now also connected to a similar crime that took place in Rogers Park on June 28.
According to CWBChicago, the suburban teacher allegedly communicated with the prior victim on the same gay dating app, getting permission to come to his home with another unidentified man.
The pair arrived at the victim’s house around 11:30 p.m. and, once inside, allegedly robbed him at gunpoint as well.
Prosecutors say Perteet and his accomplice forced the unsuspecting man to lie down in his bedroom before taking his cash and making him unlock his phone so they could get into his digital wallet.
While the other alleged perpetrator held the victim at gunpoint, prosecutors say Perteet went to an ATM and tried to make a withdrawal using the Grindr date’s phone.
The two alleged thieves then collected the man’s jewelry and credit cards before leaving.
“The next day, Chase notified the victim that someone tried to use his debit card at one of their branches in Rogers Park. The victim also learned that one of his cards was used at a gas station on the Far North Side and a liquor store in Waukegan,” the outlet reported.
Police said surveillance footage from the liquor store shows Perteet failing to make a purchase with the victim’s digital wallet on June 29, before using one of the man’s credit cards to complete the transaction.
Despite that victim picking him out of a police lineup in July, Perteet wasn’t picked up by cops until late 2023 after he had already allegedly victimized at least one other person.
Perteet was finally arrested in December and charged with armed robbery with a firearm and aggravated unlawful restraint in the June case, and additional counts of home invasion, kidnapping, possessing a stolen firearm, and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon in connection with the October case.
After recently hearing about the Rogers Park allegations, Judge Maria Kuriakos-Ciesel detained Perteet as a public safety threat.
No alleged accomplice or other suspect has been charged at this time.
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