April 15, 2011 1:40 PM

Woman sues Match.com after alleged sex assault by man she met online

By
Edecio Martinez
Topics
Daily Blotter

Woman sues Match.com after alleged sex assault by man she met online (Credit: AP Photo, file)

(CBS/KCAL) LOS ANGELES - A California woman claims she was sexually assaulted by a man she met on the popular online dating site Match.com, and now she's suing, saying the site needs to do more to prevent similar attacks.

On Thursday, attorneys for the woman, a Hollywood executive who wants to remain anonymous, filed a civil suit calling for Match.com to to stop adding users until a sexual predator screening process is installed.

The suspect in the case, Alan Wurtzel, is also facing felony charges in LA Superior Court. Police said he is a previously convicted sex offender for other assaults on women he met on the Internet.

CBS affiliate KCAL spoke to the attorney representing Wurtzel, who confirmed he has had problems with the law in the past.

Mark Webb is the plaintiff's attorney.

"If somebody uses their credit card to pay, then they basically run their name through a federal sex offender data bank and through a local county registration bank," said attorney Mark Webb.

Webb said the woman met the alleged assailant last year in West Hollywood. After a second date, the attorney said the man, who has been convicted six separate times for sexual battery, followed her home and attacked her, KNX Radio reports.

Wurtzel's attorney said the sexual contact was consensual and that he's pleaded not guilty to two felony charges against him. His trial is set to start April 26.

Robert Platt, the attorney for Match.com, said it would have been impossible to weed him out when he signed up and the company is standing by its practices.

"We don't have their Social Security numbers. It would create so many problems by trying to get background information on all these people," said Platt.


Add a Comment
by eQpidDotCom May 9, 2011 11:29 AM EDT
I do not see how Match.com is at all responsible because this could happen no matter where you go. What if you meet someone in a singles group at church and you are sexually assaulted? Are you going to sue the church? The only part about Match.com is they do cost a lot and they probably should do background checks. But then again the only way you will know someone is who they say they are is by seeing them face to face with two forms of ID.
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by leaseaguest April 19, 2011 7:29 PM EDT
This woman should not be condemned because she didn't google this jerk before meeting him. I interacted with him in April of 2005 and he was very intelligent, very well connected, very articulate and with both of them being in the business I'm sure they had plenty to talk about. Why would she google him? The only reason I escaped her predicament is I had a therapist at the time tell me some of his behavior was that of a predator... I wouldn't have googled him if my therapist hadn't suggested it.

As for Match needing to screen better... they charge enough, they can pay one extra person to weed through the applicants and find the schemers. Really, it's not that hard. Sociopaths are hard to detect because they can be so personable. But anyone, including an employee of Match can google or do further research. If there's a record, which there was... and this guy told me his lawyer wanted him to be on the internet dating... then anyone can gather this information.

Again, I reiterate. If it weren't for my therapist... I wouldn't have googled him either.
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by YvonneRice April 15, 2011 9:47 PM EDT
Pain and suffering either physical, financial or emotional is of great concern to all of us. And even Law Enforcement will tell you how difficult it is at the moment to catch predators.

Education on how to communicate online effectively and safely is currently our only real tool. Because in reality, dating sites (and all platforms) were only ever programmed and designed as a facility to connect people to each other.

It is after all a two dimensional medium, which lacks the ability of the sensory perceptions needed and obtained in the real world of face-to-face meeting, to be accurately assessed. So how can you hold a site responsible for this? Dating sites especially large ones have safety tips for members to read on how to stay safe online - do social media sites and bar and clubs do this?

I really feel for this woman's plight and I am a huge proponent of safety online. However, where does all this lead too? Will it be bars and nightclubs needing background checks on their patrons as well, before they let them into their establishment of business?

Yvonne Rice

Singles Coach | International Speaker | Global Online Dating Expert | Expert Consultant to Global Law Enforcement, Government Agencies and Governments on Online Romance, Cyber-Bullying and Predator Scams.
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by Danielmountain April 15, 2011 5:20 PM EDT
My sincere condolences to this woman but how is the site able to stop rape? When a man makes that decision he makes it on his own accord.
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by IgotAcomment April 15, 2011 3:40 PM EDT
It's sad when people blame others for choices they make. I am pissed with the judges that allowed McDonalds to be sued for spilling hot coffee on ones self or someone becoming fat due to choosing to eat McDonalds every day. Now you can sue the internet for bringing people together. Where is personal responsibility?
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by LawyerLynda April 15, 2011 3:09 PM EDT
What if man at a bar asks a woman at the same bar to go out on a date, and then when she does, he assaults her? Do we now believe it fair & reasonable to stick owners of bars & nightclubs with liability for a customer's subsequent behavior? What if the bad guy pays with a credit card? Is the owner responsible for running a criminal background check and then either prohibiting bad guy from entering the establishment and/or warning female customers? Wouldn't THAT set the owner up for a potential defamation law suit, brought on by the "bad guy"?

Seriously, folks: STOP blaming anyone and everyone just because you have the "right" to do so. Bottom line: The bad guy is the bad guy, not his mother for giving birth to him. Not his teachers. Not his wife or kids. And certainly not the businesses with which he does business, dating service or otherwise.

I'm empathetic with the victim, but now SHE is victimizing an innocent and successful business enterprise, and the lawyer representing her should be ashamed of himself!
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by mswolfestock April 15, 2011 3:05 PM EDT
Why in the BLEEP didn't she do her OWN background check? She could have had all the 411 that she needed on this POS before they met, and she then could have alerted match.com. She's the victim, and she could have been the hero but for lacking a tiny bit of caution and common sense.
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by Fatesrider April 15, 2011 2:55 PM EDT
Not to belittle this woman's experience, but if she found this stuff out after the fact, why didn't she check him out before the fact?

Most matching up services randomly stick you together with someone else. If there's any compatibility, it mostly in the minds of those meeting each other, or pure coincidence that two people living within a thousand miles of each other are actually compatible according to the services' numbers. Screening may seem "in depth", but is only relates to personalities, not criminal backgrounds. I've never heard of any match-making service doing criminal background checks. Screening for criminal backgrounds isn't practical when you've got a few hundred thousand applicants coming in every month. Nowhere in their terms of service does it say they'd even do that, so I don't see why this woman expects an online dating service to do the legwork she would have to do on her own if she had met this guy in a bar or had been set up with by a friend.

After all, a dating service only sets the clients up with "matches" exactly the same way a friend would set someone up with a blind date. Some friends dig deeper than others, but I wouldn't expect a friend to run their casual acquaintance through a criminal background check before setting them up with another person. Would this woman be suing if it was a friend and not Match.com who set her up with her "match"?

Caveat Emptor, every time. If the information was out there for her to find after the assault took place, it was there before the assault took place and she could have found it long before any dates were set up. Even if not, it's up to the people involved to determine any way they could whether the person they were going out with was suitable. That this match ended very badly doesn't mean anyone other than the two involved parties bear the responsibility of the results. It sounds to me as if this woman is looking for someone other than herself to blame for her own lack of foresight and diligence.

It would be interesting to find out if the number of "matches" from online services that result in sexual assaults is higher, lower or the same as the general population's, though. I've never heard if any studies about that have been done or not. I know more people are using the Internet for crimes, but I haven't heard that sexual assault is one of them.
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by blazon0421 April 15, 2011 2:23 PM EDT
Mr. Platt's comment is not correct. Most criminal records do not have a cooresponding social security number. Criminal records are search based on name and date of birth as well as other identifiers other than social.

Our company currently provides these types of services for another large dating company.
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