Former IU football player charged with kidnapping, robbing man he met on Grindr

Bloomington police arrested former Indiana University football player Da’Shaun Brown, alleging he abducted and robbed a man he met through a gay dating app earlier this month.

Brown, 21, a Bloomington resident, faces preliminary charges of kidnapping, robbery and battery resulting in injury. The incident happened in the early morning hours of April 6.

According to a Bloomington Police Department news release, the victim said Brown used a large knife as a weapon, threatening to kill the the 30-year-old man if he didn't give him money.

Brown then allegedly drove the man to a bank ATM and forced him to withdraw cash.

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Police responded at 6:15 a.m. on April 6 to a residence in the 2900 block of East Amy Lane regarding a robbery.

"The victim reported that he had met an unknown man on the dating app Grindr and had invited the man to his apartment for consensual sexual activity around 2 a.m.," the news release said. "The victim reported that the suspect wore a face-covering and requested that the lights inside the apartment be turned off so he could not be identified."

After the two engaged in consensual sex, the victim told police, the suspect held what was described as a large knife to his throat and threatened to kill him if he did not give him money.

When he showed the suspect there was no cash in his wallet, just credit cards, the man with the knife covered the victim's head with a coat and forced him outside. He said the suspect hit him in the face and then forced him into the back seat.

They drove to a nearby ATM to get cash using the credit cards, the victim reported. He said the suspect took him back home, deleted the Grindr app from the victim’s phone and left.

"The suspect also reportedly again threatened to kill the victim and told the victim not to call the police," the news release said.

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The man did call police, who on Thursday obtained surveillance footage from the bank ATM. The suspect's vehicle, and the license plate number, were visible. Police located the vehicle parked in the 1200 block of North Lincoln Street Thursday.

They saw a man matching the suspect's description going from the vehicle to a residence, and got search warrants for both.

The release from BPD Capt. Ryan Pedigo said when detectives went to the door of the residence at 9:35 Thursday night, Brown answered. The search turned up clothing that matched what the victim had described and three credit cards with the victim's name on them, police said.

"After interviewing Da’Shaun Brown, he was transported to the Monroe County Jail," the news release said.

Brown was first-team all-state quarterback at St. Catherine's High School in Racine, Wisconsin, in 2018. He was recruited to play at IU as part of the 2019 freshman class and moved to wide receiver.

He was a redshirt his first year at IU and appeared in two games in 2020 before tearing a knee ligament during the Hoosiers' win over Michigan that season. He didn't play at all in 2021 and entered the NCAA transfer portal last fall. He has no transfer destination.

H-T sports reporter Dustin Dopirak contributed to this story.

Contact reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com, 812-331-4362 or 812-318-5967.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Police arrest former IU athlete Da'Shaun Brown after Grindr encounter