Overview
- Four defendants, now 19 to 20, are before a youth chamber on counts including attempted murder, rape and particularly serious robbery/extortion.
- Prosecutors allege they posed as 16- to 18-year-old girls on Knuddels to set up meetings where men were attacked, robbed and in some cases severely abused between January 2024 and June 2025.
- The indictment attributes 15 cases to a role‑divided group coordinated in a chat since May 2023, with tasks such as contact maker, filmer, attackers and getaway driver and with knives, pepper spray, batons or guns used.
- Police say most targeted adults committed no offense, and the presiding judge noted there are no indications the men were pedophiles.
- An undercover sting at the 15th arranged meeting led to three arrests in June 2025 and a fourth in December, plus searches of more than two dozen homes, with nearly 20 hearing days set through mid‑July.