The many times people have been duped by dates more interested in committing crimes than winning their hearts.

By Jessie Schiewe

You’re nervous. You’re going on a first date with a girl you met online and you want to make a good first impression. But you also don’t want to be boring, which is why the prospect of dinner and a movie — the most cliche date night itinerary ever — doesn’t appeal to you.

So you try to think of something else to do, something more unique and memorable — and possibly illegal.

Others have thought this, too.

Last summer, someone asked Reddit, “What are some crimes you can commit together for an unforgettable first date?” and received a slew of answers ranging from carving each other’s names in a park bench to straight up murdering someone...together.

Even in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Holly Golightly’s first — and only — date with her new neighbor Paul Varjak results in breaking the law by shoplifting. The pair visit a variety store and peruse its many knick-knacks before slipping on cat and dog masks and dashing outside. No one follows them and they don’t get caught even though they bump into a police officer while fleeing.

But that’s the Hollywood version, and most people who do something illegal on a first date usually pay for it, spending the night behind bars instead of at the bar, flirting with their date.

Here are eight tales of first dates gone terribly wrong, proving that crime and romance really don’t mix well.

A Man Robbed a Bank On a First Date

After meeting on an app, a Massachusetts woman became an unexpected getaway driver for her date after he robbed a bank on December 5, 2016.

There were red flags from the beginning, starting with the fact that her date, Christopher Castillo, didn’t have a car and lived with his parents. She consented to picking him up anyways, driving more than 30 minutes, and into neighboring Rhode Island, to swoop him.

“Jail Time or an Odd Sentence? The Choice Is Yours”

Once in her Nissan Maxima, Castillo proceeded to drink a bottle of wine, breaking his first law of the night. He then asked her to stop at a bank so he could withdraw money, and she obliged him again.

Minutes after entering the bank, he came sprinting out, now wearing sunglasses and a hat. In his hands were a gun and $1,000 in cash.

“Fucking go,” he reportedly told her as he climbed into the Nissan.

The woman, who later told police that she “panicked” in the heat of the moment, obeyed Castillo at first. But when she heard sirens and saw the flashing lights of police cruisers on her tail, she immediately pulled over, parked, and scrambled out of the car.

Castillo remained inside and tried to hide from police who ultimately pulled him out by force. During the struggle, he spit on an officer and revealed that the gun he’d used — an antique .44 caliber handgun belonging to his stepfather — wasn’t even loaded.

Despite her initial cooperation, the woman got off without a charge, while Castillo received five years in the can.

A Man Stole His Date’s Car to Take Pick Up Another Date

When Faith Pugh received a text message from Kelton Griffin in July of 2018 asking her to dinner, she was surprised but not suspicious.

His request certainly was random. The pair had attended the same Tennessee high school, but had lost touch over the years. Still, Griffin’s out-of-the-blue proposal was flattering, and Pugh said yes.

On the night of their first date, Griffin showed up at Pugh’s house without a car. She later told police she didn’t know if he had walked there, taken public transportation, or been dropped off.

Griffin also didn’t have a plan for the evening, and when they set off in Pugh’s black Volvo on July 14th, they drove aimlessly until stopping at a gas station. Griffin asked his date to go inside and buy him a cigar, which she did.

But when she came back outside, neither her date nor her Volvo were to be found. Her calls to Griffin went unanswered and he’d already blocked her on social media.

While waiting for her mother to pick her up, the next shock of the night happened. Pugh received a text message from her godsister telling her that Griffin had asked her out on a date that night. She was currently waiting for him to pick her up at their grandmother’s house.

Griffin ended up taking his second date of the night to a drive-in movie, which Pugh learned because of a text from her godsister. It was later revealed that on the way there, Griffin had made his second date drive the stolen car. He also didn’t have any money and made her purchase their tickets to the movie.

Police arrested him at the drive-in and he was charged with theft of property.

A Woman Destroyed Valuable Art on a First Date

It was Lindy Lou Layman’s first date with Anthony Buzbee, a well-known attorney and avid art collector in Texas — and it would be her last.

The 29-year-old Dallas woman, whose LinkedIn profile listed her as a freelance court reporter, met the lawyer at his ritzy Houston home on December 23, 2017. She became drunk and when Buzbee called an Uber to take her home, Layman hid in the house instead of going outside.

After yelling aloud that she wasn’t going to leave, the blonde then began attacking Buzbee’s art collection. She reportedly tore paintings off the wall, poured red wine on them, and threw sculptures across the room. Two of the paintings she ruined were original Andy Warhol pieces worth $500,000 each. She also destroyed two sculptures valued at $20,000 each.

To Buzbee’s relief, the Renoir and Monet paintings that Layman had also ripped from the walls were not damaged during her reign of terror.

She was arrested and charged with felony criminal mischief. She was also ordered not to have any contact with Buzbee, killing any hope she might have had for a second date.

Related:
“It Costs A Lot to Own A (Kind of Terrible) Britney Spears Painting”

A Man Stole His Date’s Purse and Tried To Use Her Credit Cards

“He put me at ease," an unidentified woman told Inside Edition about a man she went on a disastrous first date with on March 30, 2017. "He seemed genuine and I trusted him, at least enough to leave my stuff with him while I went to the restroom."

The Arizona-based woman had met 38-year-old David Harlow on Tinder, although he’d told her his name was “Brad.” They chatted through the app for a few weeks before deciding to meet for a drink at a resort in Phoenix.

A few hours into the first date, the woman excused herself to use the restroom and asked Harlow to watch her purse. When she returned, he had vanished, taking her belongings with him.

She tried to contact him, but by that point, he’d disconnected his phone number and already deleted his Tinder account.

It was later revealed that Harlow had gone to a nearby casino where he tried to withdraw money using his date’s credit cards. He was arrested and booked on suspicion of felony theft, theft of a credit card, and taking the identity of another person.

A Man Tried to Kidnap His First Date

The night seemed to be going well at first.

On December 4, 2016, 30-year-old Craig Mangrum took an unnamed woman out for a first date to a few bars in downtown and midtown Nashville, Tennessee. Mangrum reportedly got very drunk and when the woman asked if she could drive his car home, he agreed.

Once in the car, however, he switched his tune, becoming very aggressive and threatening to kill her. The woman pulled over and got out of the car, and began dialing 9-1-1 when Mangrum started chasing her.

He was able to restrain her, take her phone, and force her back into his car. He justified his actions by explaining to her that he was on probation and didn’t want her to call the police. He also told her he was a convicted felon and owned a handgun.

He took her to his home, more than 30 miles away, and locked her inside, but she managed to escape and get help from a neighbor.

Police arrived, arresting Mangrum and charging him with aggravated kidnapping, interference with an emergency call, and theft of property.

A Woman Attacked and Bit Her First Date

Rachel Lynn Camarda arrived for her first date hammered.

The Tennessee woman was meeting up with an unnamed man whom she’d met through the internet on February 9, 2016. Despite her intoxicated state, the man let her inside and the pair got to know each other over more drinks.

As Camarda got so wasted that she eventually started acting belligerently. The man asked her to leave, ordering a cab and even offering to pay for it.

That only made Camarda more angry. She grew violent, grabbing the man by his genitals and biting him hard near his groin, at the top of a leg that had previously been amputated. When he tried to force her off, she scratched his arms. The bite mark in his leg was so deep it bled.

When officers arrived at the man’s house, Camarda was passed out on the couch. However, while being transported to the hospital, she awoke and became aggressive with the technicians, attempting to unstrap herself from the gurney and exit the ambulance. At the hospital, she yelled and cursed at the doctors and staff until she was deemed well enough to be transported to jail.

Once behind bars, she continued her aggressive behavior towards the corrections officers. They strapped her into a restraint chair for the remainder of the night, or at least until she sobered up.

A Man Went On The Run After Stealing From His Date

Gerald Tietz began lying from the get-go. He told the New Jersey woman he’d met on OkCupid in early 2015 that his name was “Gooch.” Little did she know that the man she was flirting with actually had multiple aliases, that also included “Mike Rossman” and “Gennaro Aladena.”

Though it is not clear what they did on their first date on February 26th, it apparently went well enough for the woman to invite Tietz back to her house at the end of the night.

Once there, the 50-something man stole some of her jewelry, took her keys, and then rode off in his date’s red 2007 Toyota Solara.

He managed to successfully elude cops for two weeks until residents in a nearby neighborhood reported seeing the car parked on a street. They’d recognized it by its unique vanity license plate which read: “Jsrygrl.”

A Couple Dined and Dashed On a First Date

Love can make you do crazy things...like skip out on a $25.16 dinner bill. That’s what a young South Florida couple did on their first date on October 5, 2011, after sharing a meal at the mall.

They had been dining on the patio of a T.G.I. Friday’s, with the 19-year-old woman choosing to slip away first. She was reportedly seen by the manager walking toward a nearby Macy’s.

Her 18-year-old partner tried to ditch next, first by leaving through a fire exit in a back room of the restaurant. But the alarm sounded, leading the manager to find him and take him back to his table on the patio where a waitress gave him the bill.

The manager then watched as the man feigned pulling money out of his wallet and placing it on the bill, before hopping over the patio gate. He ran to the parking lot where his date was waiting, and where they were both arrested.

The man later tried to justify his actions, telling police he was “basically homeless and had nothing to eat for a couple a days.”