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The popular hookup app is facing a lawsuit from a former employee who says he was drugged and raped by a human resources employee who no longer works for the company..
A man calling himself John Doe has filed a lawsuit against his former employer -- West Hollywood-based Grindr -- claiming he was raped by the company's human resources supervisor, TMZ reports.
Daniel Cabanero is accused of drugging and raping the ex-employee at the company's 2016 holiday party. Doe claims Cabanero purposely impaired him, put him in a car, took him to a hotel, and sodomized him. Doe says he woke up in the hotel room with Cabanero on top of him and holding him down. After falling back into unconsciousness, Cabanero later woke up and went to the emergency room, where he says he underwent an "invasive and humiliating" rape examination.
Doe also went to the police, which he believes are still investigating his claim. The former employee also holds other Grindr employees culpable in the alleged rape, saying they knew he was impaired at the holiday party but did not take action to get him home safely. Doe also claims the office environment at Grindr is riddled with sexual discussion and innuendo.
Launched in 2009, Grindr now reaches millions of daily users, according to its website, and is the largest social networking site for gay, bi, curious, and questioning men.
Grindr released the following statement to The Advocate: "As soon as the company was notified about the alleged incident, we took immediate steps to investigate this matter in a compassionate and respectful way. In addition to conducting our own internal investigation, Grindr fully cooperated with the local authorities. Following their review of the facts, the local authorities have not pressed criminal charges to date. We condemn all forms of sexual assault, harassment, and harmful behavior. We remain committed to cooperating with law enforcement and the legal process."
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story listed Cabanero as a human relations executive still employed by Grindr, as reported by TMZ. Grindr officials say Cabanero is a former employee and "was not a supervisor or manager, he had no authority to hire or terminate, and he was not authorized to act independently on behalf of Grindr."
