Can sex offenders be on dating sites

(A similar bill was signed into law in Illinois in 2009 and put on hold in California in 2011.) Late last month, Match.com, e Harmony and the Spark Networks signed a "joint statement of business principles" to attempt to screen out registered sex offenders.

In a statement, Match Group called the new report by Columbia Journalism Investigations “inaccurate,” adding, “we do not tolerate sex offenders on our site and spend millions of dollars annually to prevent, monitor and remove bad actors from our apps.” But Dunphy said these dating apps need to do more.

Dunphy said she met Mark Papamechail in 2014 on Plenty of Fish, before it was owned by Match Group.

She had no idea he was registered as a sex offender with prior rape convictions.

Dunphy said she felt comfortable and went to Papamechail’s house, where she said he raped her.

“Right after it happened, I told a few of my very close friends. She filed a police report and Papamechail was held for two years in county jail. By 2017, Papamechail was back on Plenty of Fish, where he matched with a woman who also told police he raped her.

“A simple background check would’ve saved this whole thing from happening,” she said.