BALTIMORE — A Maryland woman is hoping to recover tens of thousands of dollars she sent to a man she met on a dating site.
She didn’t want to be identified, but she wants to get the word out about the man who stole her heart and money. He said his name was Patrick Brown.
“I just wanted companionship, that’s all. A friend,” the woman said.
She came across Brown on OurTime, an online dating website for singles over the age of 50.
“We were talking every day, every night,” she said.
He claimed to be a widowed engineer.
“He said that he had been married to his wife for 34 years, of course, that’s going to get my attention. I said, ‘Oh, he knows how to stay in a relationship, 34 years,’” she said.
And he’d been called to Egypt to work on a project.
“He said I accepted this project without really thinking about everything it entails. I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘I have to buy tools and the company promised me they’d take care of that but they’re not doing it.’ He said I really need to get a loan. I said, ‘Why don’t get you a loan?’ Not thinking he was talking about me,” the woman recalled.
She waited a month, then sent him $17,000. He responded that he also needed help with his rent.
“I said, ‘Pay your rent? I can’t take care of you and myself too.’ He said, ‘I just need you to help me with this project. I will give you 40% of my earnings and pay you back once I finish the project,’” the woman said.
For about a year, she sent him…
