Manhunt.net

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Manhunt.net is a website that facilitates same-sex male online dating and casual sex. The site has over 1.2 million profiles worldwide, 850,000 of which are active.

The site is sometimes referred to as a virtual gay bathhouse, a place where men arrange to meet for casual sex offline. The site is sexually explicit, featuring nude photos in its numerous member profiles.

Though reputed to be amongst internet gathering places for men seeking men for bareback sex, the site demonstrates some margin of social responsibility, showing record levels of collaboration with public health organizations in their partner notification programs. Partner notification works in partnership with community-based public health organizations, allowing such an organization to log on and anonymously inform a member that another member of the site may have contracted an STD.

The member profile of a Richmond, Virginia school board chairman was discovered by a Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter in early December 2005 leading to the chairman’s resignation, and raising more notable public attention to the site.

[edit] Manhunt.net Health Efforts

Over the past 3 years, MANHUNT.net has posted over 150 health education banners. There are currently over 120 outreach and 16 partner notification profiles on the site. Ben Perkins, of the Men’s Action Life Empowerment (MALE) Center, attests that "Manhunt.net is the most socially conscious gay dating website. In comparison to lots of other sites, it's light years ahead."

[edit] Users of Manhunt.net report robberies

In April 2006, due to the perceived anonymity of this users on this website, there have been cases of users "hooking up" with other users only to find that these potential "dates" are criminals looking to take advantage of other users looking for a quick fling.

A member by the name of Joshua Sacks decided after several hours of discussion to invite another member of manhunt.net by the name of Ray Wenzel to his home on the evening of April 12. 2006. Both members are from the Washington DC area. According to the account of Joshua Sacks, he indicated to authorities that Mr. Wenzel drugged him with the "date rape" drug GHB.[1]

When he awoke, Sacks discovered that the stranger, who would later be identified as Ray Wenzel, had left after allegedly stealing his Audi convertible, his passport, credit cards and cheques. Later that day, Wenzel allegedly used Sacks' passport to cash a check.

On April 21, Philadelphia police arrested Wenzel, 35, after an alleged crime spree that spanned at least two states and Washington, D.C., in which numerous gay men seeking sexual encounters or dates via the internet and Manhunt.net were apparently victimized.

Wenzel faces charges of theft, possession of narcotics and stealing a car, according to Beth Skala, public information officer for the Philadelphia Police Department. At the time of his arrest, he was also wanted on several other charges, including identity theft and credit card fraud, in Washington, D.C., and Virginia, Skala said.

"We've definitely seen an increase in online dating crimes in the past five years," said Sgt. Brett Parson, commander of D.C. Police Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit, who was involved in investigating the Wenzel case.

Parson said gay victims of internet dating crimes are "overwhelmingly men cruising for sex" on sites like Manhunt, as opposed to the more relationship-oriented dating sites.

According to Parson, Wenzel is suspected of victimizing at least 15 to 20 gay men. When Wenzel was arrested, police found driver's licenses and other identification belonging to alleged victims in Florida, Parson said. But it could not be confirmed through Florida authorities that Wenzel was wanted for any crimes in the state at the time of his arrest.

In a November 2005 case, police arrested Brett Chasen Wolfe in the lobby of an apartment building in Washington, D.C. Wolfe is also accused of stealing credit cards from gay men he met on the Manhunt dating site.

The D.C. Police's Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit nabbed Wolfe following a sting operation after an undercover agent contacted him on Manhunt and arranged a meeting.

Parson said the anonymity of the internet is attractive to both customers and criminals. He said many of those who use online dating and hookup sites may be closeted gay men and may be reluctant to contact police when they fall victim to crime.

"Someone who goes to a gay bar to meet people has some level of comfort with their sexual orientation," Parson said. "There is more chance that they will call the police."

Parson said the criminals are often technologically savvy. They create profiles using fake information and other people's photos from cyber cafes or public libraries, making them difficult to trace.

Stephan Adelson, a spokesperson for Manhunt.net, said the company is limited in how it can respond to incidents because of liability and privacy issues.

"We get phone calls from all types of people making all kinds of claims," Adelson said. "We could be put in a liable position if someone's accusations are not substantiated."

Manhunt, however, does delete the profile of a suspected criminal once the company receives a subpoena from the police, Adelson said.

But deleting a suspect's profile doesn't prevent an alleged perpetrator from creating a new one. In Wenzel's case, for example, his account with the screen name "OnTopofYoutoNite" was deleted March 30, 12 days before he allegedly robbed Sacks. Adelson said the words "known criminal" were noted in Wenzel's file.

But Wenzel created a new profile with the screen name "DCupforFun." That profile was deleted April 15 after Manhunt received information that Wenzel allegedly used someone else's credit card to create the account, Adelson said.

[edit] Sources

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