St. Louis officials are investigating reports that a convicted rapist managed to access a dating app while incarcerated at the St. Louis County Justice Center ahead of his December 22 sentencing hearing.
Dominic Yocco, 23, was convicted by a jury on 16 of 19 counts of rape and sodomy in September, after which his bond was revoked. He has been housed at the St. Louis County Justice Center since — but a report from local CBS affiliate KMOV stated that someone who knew him found him on the dating app Bumble since he was incarcerated.
Amber Williams told the outlet that she matched with someone named “Giovanni” on the app, but when she looked at the photos, she recognized his face immediately. “I was like, ‘oh my God Yocco just matched with me.’ Like, ‘what’s going on,'” she said.
Williams said that she had “hung out” with Yocco and some other friends when she was younger and that one of her friends had later said he had assaulted her. “It’s insane, and it’s just crazy to me, to think how you’re convicted of all these rapes, and you’re still getting on these dating apps,” Williams added.
Authorities are unsure whether Yocco was behind the account Williams found, and an investigation into whether or not it was him — and if so, how he managed to obtain access to the internet — is currently underway.
If it was Yocco, however, it may not be the first time he has tried something similar. Lyssa Laurent, whose late daughter Maya Jami was one of Yocco’s accusers, told The Daily Wire that he had joined Bumble under a fake name at least once before.
“I emailed the prosecutor’s office 9/13/2021 … over a year ago, that he was on Bumble. Same time that I found him on TikTok. He had fake names,” Laurent said, suggesting that if Yocco had gained access to the internet while in jail, it could have been through a tablet he was given “for movies and email.”
“His tablet is being checked. Apparently prisoners get tablets ‘for movies and email.’ ?!?!?!!!!!!!!” she said.
Laurent’s daughter Maya ended her own life in October 2020 — when she was just 15 — but Laurent has continued down the path they began together: giving victim impact statements at every opportunity in an effort to make sure that what happened to her daughter doesn’t happen to anyone else.
“I was in shock when I saw it on the news last night,” Laurent said of the news that Yocco may have gotten access to a dating app from jail. “The reason why I have fought this whole time, and why Maya was willing to testify, was so that he wouldn’t be able to harm anyone else. But he is potentially still trying to contact women. The trial brought some feelings of closure for me, but seeing it on the news again, last night made me realize that it’s never really going to be over.”
“His sentencing was originally set for this Thursday but was recently changed to December 22. I am planning to make a victim impact statement as I have made statements at every single hearing since 2018,” Laurent continued. “This has been looming over us since the rape first occurred. It obviously had a devastating effect on Maya but it also did impact all of us and changed our lives forever. Every moment of every day has been impacted for me.”