Palm Beach County law enforcement officials are appealing to the public for information, asking women to step forward if they have had interactions with a Florida man who is facing charges related to sexual assault and is believed to have used online dating applications to connect with potential victims.
Initial Incident and Investigation
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office issued this request on July 14, several months after they began investigating a report of sexual battery at a Florida hospital. The victim in that case stated she had met her alleged attacker, Stephen Hakim, through the dating application Hinge. According to court documents, detectives subsequently linked Hakim’s DNA to samples collected from the victim.
Toxicology tests performed on the woman’s blood and urine samples revealed the presence of multiple sleeping medications, which she informed deputies she had not ingested.
Hakim, a resident of Delray Beach, was taken into custody on July 8 and charged with sexual assault. He was released on a $25,000 bond the following day and has since entered a plea of not guilty.
The woman informed deputies that after matching with Hakim on Hinge, they exchanged messages on the app for approximately an hour. Subsequently, their communication transitioned to text messages and video calls, as detailed in investigative reports.
Court documents reveal that the alleged victim and Hakim, 27, made arrangements to meet later that same day for what was described as “a relaxed evening to talk,” with “no expectations or pretenses.” The woman told deputies that Hakim picked her up in his black Tesla around 11 p.m., ostensibly to go to a bar. However, he reportedly drove her directly to his apartment instead.
Victim's Account of the Encounter
She recounted that during the drive in his black Tesla, Hakim was traveling at speeds between “90 to 100 miles per hour.” She described his apartment as “very clean” but sparsely furnished, noting the absence of a television or pets. The woman stated that they consumed four beers and engaged in conversation about topics such as their work. She then reported that Hakim offered to give her a massage. It was at this point, she told deputies, that she felt “super tired” and “couldn’t get up” before the alleged assault occurred. Afterward, she expressed being “very upset” and confronted Hakim, telling him he had raped her. Records indicate that Hakim responded by questioning what she was referring to, an action described as “gaslighting” behavior.
Online Dating Safety Concerns
Data from a 2023 Pew Research report indicates that approximately 53 percent of adults aged 18 to 29 have utilized a dating application. Since the late 1990s, the online dating sector has fundamentally “transformed” the ways some adults seek potential partners, according to researchers involved in the study. Megan Cutter, who serves as the chief of victim services for the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) — an organization that operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline — emphasized that dating applications are not inherently perilous.
Cutter highlighted that numerous relationships initiated through dating apps evolve into healthy and enduring partnerships. Nevertheless, she also noted that offenders exploit these platforms to facilitate criminal behavior.
She stated that only about one in three victims report their sexual assault to law enforcement agencies.
This underreporting, Cutter explained, is sometimes due to abusers and perpetrators threatening to harm victims and their families if they contact authorities.
RAINN statistics show that one in six women in the United States experiences attempted or completed rape during their lifetime. Women aged 18 to 24 face the highest risk of becoming victims of sexual assault compared to any other age demographic. “We really want to think about how we stay safe on the internet” when engaging with online dating services, Cutter advised. She warned that profiles lacking significant details, links to social media, or those that are not “built out” should be viewed with caution.
Similarly,