Ron Frankel Tells Federal Court Victim’s Tinder Profile Was A Lie, So Case Should Be Dismissed.
BY: ANDREW COLTON | Editor and Publisher | DELRAY BEACH, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — The Seven Bridges homeowner who was arrested in an FBI raid for allegedly flying a teen to his home for sex now says he didn’t know the girl was under 18.
Ron Frankel, 68, was arrested last year in an early morning FBI action on his home. He now claims in a court document obtained by BocaNewsNow.com that he thought the girl he flew from Des Moines, IA for romps in his West Delray Beach hot tub, kitchen, and bedroom was actually 18 — since he found her on Tinder. The argument: you have to be 18 to be on Tinder, so clearly anyone looking for a “Sugar Daddy” must be of age.
Wrote attorneys for Frankel in the filing: “She created a Tinder profile using a fake identity, advertising herself as an 18-year-old seeking a “Sugar Daddy” between the ages of 35 and 75. Her Tinder profile represented that she was “in college.” She told Ron Frankel she was 18 (which was the youngest age he was seeking). She showed him, at his request, a government identification confirming that claim (unbeknownst to him, it turned out to be fake). She used Tinder, an adult-only platform that requires its users to be at least 18. She traveled alone from Iowa to West Palm Beach, reinforcing the representation that she was an adult. And during multiple in-person interactions, including shopping excursions, she repeatedly reaffirmed that she was 18. Every available signal pointed in one direction: adulthood. Because the minor posing as an adult affirmatively lied about her age, fabricated documentary proof of majority, and exploited an adult-only online platform to induce reliance, this prosecution crosses a constitutional line, and the Indictment must be dismissed.”
But the federal prosecutor from the United States Department of Justice has a different take. Here’s a highlight from the entire response, below: “In short,” argues Assistant United States Attorney Marton Gyires, “the defendant is accused of having an online sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl that led to the defendant paying the girl to travel from another state to the defendant’s home in Florida, where the defendant paid her and bought her gifts in exchange for various sexual activities …The defendant’s motion to dismiss asks this Court to dismiss the Indictment because he believes there is a constitutional substantive due process right to statutory rape under certain scenarios. The defendant’s argument is foreclosed by at least two Eleventh Circuit cases.”
Mr. Frankel remains out on bond and under GPS monitoring. The case continues. Read the two competing filings, below. Read our previous coverage here.
