14 News, The Tri-State's News and Weather Leader-Warning: Looking for love on the Internet

Warning: Looking for love on the Internet

Reporter: Stefanie Silvey
New Media Producer: Rachel Chambliss

We warn children all the time about the dangers of online predators, but how often do we, as adults, listen to our own advice? There is a new generation of stranger danger online.

Let's face it: The younger generation basically grew up on the computer. There are kids in grade school who know the ins and outs of the Internet much better than many adults. So, how many adults are properly protecting their hearts and their property when looking for love on the World Wide Web?

When shopping around for a car or furniture, you know ahead of time what you're buying. Wouldn't you want to do the same when looking for love?

Ed Brady, Henderson County sheriff, says, "I can't think of any circumstances where I would want to meet somebody on the Internet for any type of relationship."

While some have been successful in finding that perfect someone online, Brady says, the risks outweigh the benefits in his opinion. "You honestly don't know - when you get on the Internet, and you start talking to this rich, famous, good looking person, as they describe themselves - that he's not a Jeffrey Dahmer."

And with an older generation, less computer savvy than some of those younger, he says there is an increased risk. "Really, I think, you are safer walking through a bed of rattlesnakes than you are getting on the Internet."

If you are a lady seeking a special someone in the Tri-State, we found plenty of suitors online. Mr. Romance is honest and not into head games. The Starlight Prince is a writer and poet. Ghost Lover 20 likes to walk, lift weights and hike to stay in shape. Donelle is a retired Navy SEAL who speaks several languages. Prime Rib loves unicorns and baby tigers. Angelo is a pediatric doctor who graduated from Harvard.

Some of these men are widowed, others single or divorced, and, at least, one claims to be in an open marriage. Some have children, some don't, but all of them have one thing in common: They are the same person!

"He's a master manipulator. He's obviously been doing this for some time," Brady says.

One woman says the relationship went offline when this man, calling himself Donelle, started dating one of her relatives in person. We've shielded her identity to protect her loved one's identity. "I first heard of him about a year ago, and my guard was up right away. We heard things like he was a Navy SEAL, and he was a member of the mafia, and he was a millionaire, and we all thought it was a little fishy. I even looked online because he said he was Rudy Giuliani's brother, and, so, it just took one little search for me to find that that wasn't true."

This woman had the same concerns when her sister brought him home. "He told me that he's also a singer; that he's making a DVD with the actor Ice T. He told me that he opens for Justin Timberlake concerts."

Despite the tall tales, she says her sister continues to date him, and the two have plans to marry. "She is lonely, and she wants a companion. She wants somebody to love her so bad that she is believing everything he says."

And, she says, her sister believes him when he says he's a millionaire who can help pay all of her medical bills from a recent heart surgery. "She told me that all his money, and he's told me this too, that all his money is tied up with the IRS because he refuses to testify against the mafia. It's always going to be released from the IRS on Monday, then Tuesday, then next week."

And while she's recovering from heart surgery, she has to worry about her boyfriend's health, too. "He says he has cancer. He says he goes to Chicago for cancer treatments."

She says with his car in the shop, it's her sister's only car he's been using. "He also had a liver transplant."

But it wasn't at a hospital where we found "Donelle". We have evidence that shows he wasn't seeking medical treatment on the days he claimed.

Stefanie asks, "Does she think you are sick?"

Donelle responds, "I'm not sick. I'm fine now. That's none of anybody's business."

And that's not all we found.

Donelle says," He better turn his camera off, or I will kick his ass."

In "Warning: Looking for love on the Internet (pt 2)", we'll meet the real man behind the computer screen, and we'll hear what he has to say about this relationship and others we found while searching the World Wide Web.