Man killed, robbed from dating app

(NATIONAL) -- Two men are accused of tying up then robbing and killing a man at his Chicago home after he matched with them on a dating app, Illinois officials told news outlets. Jefferson Ubilla-Delgado, 29, and 21-year-old Geiderwuin Bello Morales are facing charges of murder and robbery of a person older than 60 in connection to the Jan. 26 killing, the Chicago Police Department said in a Jan. 31 news release. Ubilla-Delgado was arrested on Jan. 29 and his accomplice, Morales, was taken into custody the next day, Jan. 30, police said. Police launched an investigation after receiving a call from the sister of 63-year-old George Levin, who was a businessman and interior designer, WLS reported. Levin’s sister found him tied up in the basement of their family’s home on the city’s northwest side at around 11 p.m., according to police.

Levin was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, WBBM reported. “I can’t overlook the horrific nature of this crime (and) to call this violent is an understatement,” Cook County Judge Will Fahy said during a detention hearing, WLS reported. “It is shocking, it is horrifying that the victim was bound, gagged and beaten to death. All roads leave to these two defendants who perpetrated this violence.” Officials say Ubilla-Delgado and Morales found Levin through a dating app and he agreed to meet, the Chicago Sun Times reported. During the evening, Levin’s sister heard a noise and ran into Morales leaving Levin’s bedroom, and he told her Levin was OK, according to investigators. Still concerned, she forced open the door to his room later that night and found him bound and gagged, WBBM reported. Ubilla-Delgado and Morales are accused of taking Levin’s phone and cards and trying to use them to make purchases and withdrawals, the Chicago Sun Times reported. Ubilla-Delgado, a Venezuelan national, was wearing a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ankle monitor during the robbery, officials say. Morales, who is from Ecuador, was arrested about two weeks prior to killing Levin on charges of assaulting a victim younger than 13, WBBM reported. Attorney information was not available for Morales or Ubilla-Delgado.