Six women who say they were drugged and raped by a former Colorado cardiologist are filing a lawsuit against him and the dating apps where they met him.
The lawsuit alleges that the Hinge app knew about Stephen Matthews’ proclivities on their app and let it go on until his arrest in 2023, KCNC reports.
Matthews was convicted on charges of drugging 11 women — and raping eight of them — last year, as CrimeOnline reported. He was sentenced to 158 years in prison. Earlier this year, the state of Colorado stripped him of his medical license.
The lawsuit, to be filed on Tuesday in Denver, alleges that a 33-year-old woman first reported Matthews to Hinge in September 2020 after she woke up naked on his floor. The app responded that her complaint “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,” the app said in what was clearly a boilerplate response. “Your safety is our main concern … ”
Three months later, the woman again matched with Matthews on the app and again reported him. The app responded that he had been “permanently banned” and that they had “taken steps” to make sure he doesn’t come back.
Three years later, another woman — who asked that her last name not be used — told KCNC that she matched with Matthews on Hinge. The lawsuit said that he was still using the same profile picture, biographical information, and phone number.
“I thought it was unbelievably unacceptable, disrespectful and just horrifying,” said Alexa, 25.
Alexa said she matched with Matthews when she was just 22 and met him at his townhome in Denver in January 2023. She said she had two drinks and then completely blanked out, awakening 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 said. “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.”
Carrie Goldberg, one of the attorneys in the new lawsuit, said that Hinge and its parent company, Match Group, knew Matthews “was a dangerous rapist” but chose “profit over safety, not giving a damn.” The emails to the company complaining about him “show Hinge knew Stephen Matthews was going around drugging and raping” but did nothin until his arrest in 2023.
Videos of Matthews raping Alexa were found on his phone and used in the case against him.
In another boilerplate response, Hinge said after Matthews’ arrest that the company was “always” working to “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,” the company said.
The lawsuit alleges that just wasn’t true.
The lawsuit also names the dating app Tinder because Matthews was also active there, KMGH reports.
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[Featured image: Stephen Matthews/Denver Police Department]
