‘Shocks the conscience:’ Oak Park man given 5 years for stalking, harassing victim he met on a dating app

OAK PARK, Ill. (WGN) — A suburban Chicago man will spend five years in prison and pay more than $15,000 in restitution for stalking and harassing a victim he met on a dating app.

34-year-old Kevin Cruz, an Oak Park resident who pleaded guilty to a federal cyberstalking charge in 2024, has been sentenced to five years in federal prison and ordered to pay $17,313.18 in restitution for the cyberstalking campaign, which lasted nearly two years, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Illinois announced Thursday.

Prosecutors said Cruz first met the victim in 2021 on the dating app Grindr. The two discussed a potential intimate relationship and at one point, Cruz even sent the victim nude photographs of himself.

The two had met on several occasions, but prosecutors said the relationship soured when Cruz expressed interest in pursuing a romantic relationship with the victim, who did not express the same feelings.

Things then took a dark turn starting in December of 2021 when prosecutors say Cruz began harassing and intimidating the victim.

The Cyberstalking campaign lasted through mid-2023 and prosecutors said during that period, Cruz created several fake profiles on dating apps in which he impersonated the victim.

While impersonating the victim, prosecutors said Cruz arranged for men to travel to the victim’s home for sexual encounters and, in some instances, even instructed them to enter the victim’s home and attempt to have sex with him even if he resisted, telling the men that it was part of a role-playing scenario.

As a result, prosecutors said numerous men arrived at the victim’s home seeking sex as a result of their communications with Cruz.

In addition to the phony meetups, Cruz also sent nude photographs of the victim to the victim’s family members, including his mother, brother and cousins.

In one instance, prosecutors said Cruz used a spoofed phone number to text the victim’s mother and falsely suggest the victim had committed suicide.

“Defendant’s conduct shocks the conscience,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Shih said during sentencing “He created significant risks that the victim would be hurt, injured, and raped.”

Cruz’s sentence was handed down on Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Steven Seeger.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Illinois did not provide a booking photo for Cruz.