MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A man said on Tuesday that he decided to talk about how a recent meeting through a popular dating app could have turned deadly in Miami-Dade County because he didn’t want anyone else to go through his nightmare.
The man, who asked not to be identified, said he defended himself until he heard the clinking sound of the gunman racking the slide to chamber a round outside of a motel room in Miami Springs.
“If I don’t give in to what he is saying or do it, I am going to be dead,” the man said.
The victim reported that he met Sergio Morales II in person Friday night on the 100th block of Fairway Drive and got into his car after he recognized him from his profile on Grindr, according to a police report.
Morales was driving a black Nissan Sentra when he drove him to the Parkway Inn, at 777 Curtiss Parkway, and asked him for money, according to the police officer’s arrest report.
The victim said he gave him $20, but Morales wanted more, so he placed his hand in a fanny bag and said, “Don’t make this complicated! I will kill you,” according to the police report.
Surveillance video shows there was a struggle.
“He is forcing me, forcing me to go in ... and I am trying to resist ... ‘No! No, I don’t want to go in, and that’s when I hear the slide,” the victim said.
Once in the motel room, the victim said Morales ordered him to sit in front of a refrigerator and threatened him with the gun.
Morales pointed the gun at the victim’s head, ordered him to get on his knees, and robbed him of $400 in cash and an iPhone, according to the police report.
“I am very grateful; by the grace of God to be alive,” the victim said. "
A Miami detective found Morales -- who was on probation and armed -- driving the same car on Sunday near Northwest 54 Street and 11 Avenue and arrested him, records show.
Miami-Dade County inmate records showed correctional deputies booked Morales shortly before 2 a.m., on Monday at the Turner Guilford Correctional Center.
Morales faced five charges in two pending cases that prosecutors filed on Monday in Miami-Dade County court.
In the Miami Springs case, Morales faced charges of burglary with assault or battery while armed, armed robbery, and armed grand theft.
In a Miami case, Morales faced a charge of possession of a controlled substance case after police officers seized oxycodone, records show.
Morales also had a probation warrant on two counts of possession of a short-barrel gun, rifle, machine gun; carrying a concealed firearm; and resisting arrest.
The court set his arraignment hearing for 9 a.m., on June 23. Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Lody Jean is set to preside over the case.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 to remain anonymous.