Oregon Man Sentenced To 12 Years In Prison After Brutally Beating Gay Man He Lured On Grindr

Posted March 4, 2026 by with 0 comments

Today in people using Grindr to commit heinous hate crimes, via DOJ:

A Springfield, Oregon, man was sentenced to federal prison today for a federal hate crime after assaulting a victim on the basis of their sexual orientation.

Daniel Andrew McGee, 26, was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison and five years of supervised release.

“The right to live safely in one’s community is a fundamental civil right,” said U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford for the District of Oregon. “The District of Oregon remains committed to combatting hate crimes and protecting that right for all. While no conviction can undo the harm caused, we hope this sentence will bring some measure of justice to the victim and our community.”

“Hate crimes impact not just individuals, but entire communities,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Torres of the FBI Portland Field Office. “The FBI works together with our partners to prevent hate crimes from impacting our communities, and every attack on someone because of who and what they are deserves to be acted on by the full extent of the law.”

According to court documents, on the evening of July 5, 2021, McGee met the victim at the victim’s apartment after communicating on the dating application Grindr, an application originally designed for, and primarily used by, gay men. McGee assaulted the victim over the course of several minutes, striking the victim on the head with a wooden tire thumper and using his hands to try to gouge the victim’s eyes out. The victim sustained life-threatening injuries during the assault, including serious head wounds.

The investigation revealed McGee had been researching and planning the attack for weeks. For at least one month prior to the attack, McGee searched the internet for homophobic and graphically violent anti-gay material. McGee planned for the attack by purchasing the weapon and other materials from Amazon and searching the internet for suggestions on how to get away with murder.

On Nov. 18, 2021, a federal grand jury in Eugene, Oregon, returned a one-count indictment charging McGee with a federal hate crime involving an attempt to kill.

On Nov. 25, 2025, McGee pleaded guilty to count one of the indictment.

151 months is just over 12 years, which seems pretty lenient given the clear intent to commit murder. Then again, given the direction this country is headed, I guess it’s kind of surprising that he was convicted at all.

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