Women who were drugged, raped by Colorado cardiologist filing lawsuit: "Catastrophic failure of basic safety"

Six women who say they were drugged and raped by former Denver cardiologist Stephen Matthews plan to file a civil lawsuit in Denver Tuesday against Matthews and the Hinge dating app, which they say allowed Matthews to remain on the app for years, even after women had told Hinge that Matthews was a rapist.

"I thought it was unbelievably unacceptable, disrespectful and just horrifying," said one of the women who filed the suit, Alexa, 25, who asked that her last name not be used.

She was 22 when she met Matthews via the Hinge app in 2023, but after a date that ended with her believing she was drugged and assaulted, she later learned that another woman had reported Matthews to Hinge as a "rapist" in 2020, then again in 2021, but he remained on the app until after Alexa's date with him in 2023.

"Whatever they weren't doing, they (Hinge) weren't listening, and they were just kind of keeping him on. I know he was paying but it seemed like they cared more about him being on the site than women's safety," she said during an interview with CBS News Colorado.

Alexa agreed to meet Matthews in January 2023 at his Denver townhome. She said she had two shots of alcohol shortly after arriving and says within 15 minutes, she suffered complete memory loss, much like other victims said happened to them. She said she could only remember waking up at her home the next morning.

"I had cuts and a bump on my forehead, I was covered in vomit, my leggings I wore to his house were shredded at the crotch so I woke up in kind of disarray," she recalled. "My first thought was, it couldn't be him, he's a doctor, he took an oath to protect people, like why would he ever do this ... but I really couldn't wrap my head around it. The memory was so much lost. I mean something horrible happened to me in order for me to end up in this state."

Prosecutors later said they found two videos of Alexa on Matthews' phone. One of the videos, said prosecutors, showed Matthews climbing on top of Alexa. She said she has no recollection of being videotaped.

What Alexa and other women who met Matthews on Hinge didn't know, is that in September 2020, a 33-year-old woman who also met Matthews on Hinge and said he drugged and raped her, reported the Matthews incident to Hinge Trust and Safety division on Sept. 29, 2020. She said she woke up naked on Matthews' floor and that he had sex with her while she was incapacitated. Hinge responded that her report "is currently being addressed and acted on by our team. We take abuse reporting very seriously, and we'll be taking immediate steps to prevent any behavior on Hinge that violates our Member Principles and Terms of Service. Your safety is our main concern ... " said the dating app.

But three months later, while on Hinge, the same woman was again matched with Stephen Matthews who was still on the site. On Jan. 30, 2021, she again emailed Hinge. "This is the second time I am reporting this. I was raped and subsequently hospitalized after a first date with an individual (Matthews) I met and communicated with via hinge," she wrote. "... he still exists within your ecosystem, and is posing as a potential threat to other women within the Hinge community."

Hinge responded saying they had "permanently banned" Matthews after her first complaint.

"We have now permanently banned that account and taken additional steps to ensure that he stays permanently off Hinge," the company wrote in an email to the woman.

But two years later, Matthews profile was on Hinge, apparently using the same photos, his name and the same phone number he had previously used.

Carrie Goldberg, one of the plaintiff's attorneys in the new lawsuit, told CBS Colorado Hinge has a "defective design" and that the dating app "Knew he was a dangerous rapist" but that the company chose "profit over safety, not giving a damn." Goldberg said the emails to Hinge, obtained and reported on by CBS in 2023, "Were a game changer. They show Hinge knew Stephen Matthews was going around drugging and raping."

Hinge's parent company, Match Group, has previously defended itself against these accusations, saying: "We will always work to invest in and improve our systems, and search for ways to help our users stay safe, both online and when they connect in real life. We take every report of misconduct seriously, and vigilantly remove and block accounts that have violated our rules regarding this behavior."

Alexa -- and other women -- say that was not their experience as they now know Hinge was notified about Matthews years before they agreed to date him. Carrie Goldberg said Matthews' criminal behavior did not end because of anything Hinge or Match Group did, but because police arrested him.

He was subsequently convicted on 35 criminal counts involving 10 women who say Matthews drugged them while on dates, with eight saying he also sexually assaulted them. Matthews is serving a 158 year prison sentence.

Alexa says she hopes the new civil suit, which is being filed in Denver, "brings accountability" and prompts dating apps to change their security procedures.

"Just because we agree to be on an app doesn't mean we're agreeing for bad things to happen to us and they get away with it," said Alexa.