NJ Men Set Trap For Child Predators On Grindr, Then Get Arrested

EDISON, NJ — Two New Jersey men posed as a teen boy on Grindr to lure would-be predators in Edison but wound up charged by police with making terroristic threats and criminal restraint on Thursday, authorities said.

The two men — Christo Makropoulos, 34 of Edison and Ramy El-Daly, 26, of Springfield — were charged with criminal restraint and making terroristic threats in a scheme to pose as a 15-year-old boy on the Grindr app and making arrangements to meet with three separate men in Edison, Deputy Police Chief Robert Dudash said.

They were being held at the Middlesex County jail in North Brunswick.

Meanwhile, two of three men who fell for the scheme were also arrested, police said.

Jordan Grundy, 21 of North Plainfield and Anthony Cotos, 29, of Edison were arrested by Edison police and charged with enticing a child and endangering the welfare of a minor, Dudash said.

They were also being held at the Middlesex County jail in North Brunswick.

A third man is still at large, and police were looking for him, authorities said.

Makropoulos and El-Daly posed as the teen boy on Grindr and made arrangements to meet separately with each of three men who responded, police said.

During one such meeting, one of the men fled the scene when confronted, and Makropoulos and El-Daly contacted the Edison police, the police said. Makropoulos and El-Daly showed police videos of the meetings, police said.

Police viewed the videos and determined that Makropoulos and El-Daly ordered each of the men into the back seat of a car for a long interrogation, police said. They "humiliated and threatened" them with castration, Dudash said.

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