Prosecutors charge Kent man in gay dating app robbery cases

King County prosecutors charged a 32-year-old Kent man Tuesday with several felony charges in connection with setting up dates through a gay dating app, meeting the men and robbing the victims.

King County prosecutors charged a 32-year-old Kent man Tuesday with several felony charges in connection with setting up dates through a gay dating app, meeting the men and robbing the victims.

In a Seattle case, he also allegedly raped one of the men.

Leverne Maxwell has been charged under two separate cause numbers for a multitude of violent felonies, said Ian Goodhew, spokesman for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, in an email.

The first set of charges stem from a Kent Police investigation in which he is charged with first-degree robbery and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

The second set of charges are based from multiple Seattle Police investigations. The charges include first-degree rape, first-and second-degree robberies, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and first-degree burglary.

Bail is set at $250,000 for the Kent incident and $500,000 for the Seattle cases for a total of $750,000. Maxwell is scheduled to be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. May 6 in Courtroom 1201 at the King County Courthouse in Seattle. He remains in custody at the county jail at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

Kent Police arrested Maxwell on April 19 at his Kent apartment after a man reported he was robbed during an April 14 incident.

 


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