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Match.com Tightens Background Checks After Alleged Sexual Assault
The match.com homepage as it looks today.
After a Los Angeles woman reported that she was raped by a man she met on Match.com, the colossal dating website has agreed to institute new screening policies for potential users.
The LA Times reports that the site will now begin cross-checking users against a national sex-offender registry, despite previous concerns that such a policy would not be foolproof and may provide a false sense of security. The woman involved, listed only as "Jane Doe" in a lawsuit against the site, is described as Ivy League educated and employed in film and television. She was on a second date with Alan Paul Wurtzel, her alleged attacker, at Urth Cafe in West Hollywood when he followed her home and forced himself on her. She later discovered that he had been previously convicted of sexual battery.
In a statement, she noted that she believed herself to be cautious about potential suitors that she met on the internet: "This horrific ordeal completely blindsided me because I had considered myself savvy about online dating safety," she said.
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