Man Posing As Nurse On Facebook Kidnapped 4 Women And 1 Child In NJ And NY, Feds Allege

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — A man posing as a nurse on Facebook and the dating app Hinge has been indicted for kidnapping, assaulting, and threatening at least four women in New Jersey and New York state, federal prosecutors say. He also stands accused of kidnapping the child of one of the women.

Herman Calvin Brightman, of West New York, N.J., was indicted Monday by a federal grand jury in Manhattan and charged with kidnapping, kidnapping a minor, interstate travel to commit domestic violence, interstate communication of a threat and cyberstalking, officials said.

Brightman also used the names Nazir Griffiths and Nazir Luckett online, prosecutors say.

The U.S. Attorney's Office detailed a list of offenses, ranging from threatening to gut a Queens woman "like a fish," to kidnapping a Bronx woman and her child and bringing them to New Jersey.

“As alleged, for over a year, Herman Brightman preyed upon woman after woman using the internet to lure these women into meeting and dating him and posing as a nurse or nurse practitioner to gain their trust," said Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. "He then quickly became physically abusive towards them, going so far as to kidnap the women at knifepoint and threaten to kill them”

The Accusations

According to the timeline laid out by officials, from January 2022 to September 2023, Brightman used social media platforms such as Facebook and the dating application Hinge to meet and date women under false pretenses.

He "often used an alias and posed as a nurse or nurse practitioner working at New York City-area hospitals, even sending pictures and videos of himself wearing scrubs and lab coats, and creating false IDs for himself," authorities said.

Shortly after he began dating the women, he'd turn violent, especially if they tried to walk away from the relationship. He "brutalized at least four such women," prosecutors said.

Around July 2022, he traveled from New Jersey to New York and forced a woman and her child, at knifepoint, to come back to his residence in New Jersey. Then he threatened to kill her if she "made any problems," and held onto her for the whole evening so she couldn't escape, officials said.

After she convinced him to let her leave, she told police.

In August 2023, he attacked a Queens woman in her home and threatened her at knifepoint, telling her he'd "gut her like a fish." He also bound her hands. She got free, but he called her more than 20 times and threatened her.

In early September 2023, he went to the Bronx, lured a woman he was dating to his car, then punched her. When she tried to escape, he put her in a choke hold. She managed to escape and call police, prosecutors say.

A few days later, however, he returned to the Bronx and confronted the woman at her job, asking if she'd contacted police. He followed her home, then pushed her to the ground, and threw a traffic cone at her, prosecutors say.

That same month, he convinced a woman in the Bronx, who had ended the relationship, to let him into her home. Once inside, he assaulted and strangled her, leaving her neck bruised. He also threatened to kill her and tried to rape her, prosecutors say. She escaped with help from a friend.

Charges And Minimum Sentences

Brightman's official charges include one count of kidnapping a minor, which carries a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; one count of threatening physical harm by interstate communication, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and one count of cyberstalking, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

They also include two counts of kidnapping, which each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; two counts of travel in interstate commerce to commit a crime of violence, which each carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison; and one count of travel in interstate commerce to stalk, which carries a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison.

Search For More Victims

Prosecutors are looking for others who may have been victimized by Herman Calvin Brightman, a.k.a. Nazir Griffiths, a.k.a. Nazir Luckett. Anyone with additional information about his alleged behavior is asked to contact the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York at 1-866-874-8900 and reference this case.