Taunton man charged with armed robbery for sending himself money over Venmo while holding victim at knifepoint

BOSTON, October 9, 2023 – A Taunton man was arraigned Thursday for holding a man at knifepoint in the North End last January and stealing $1,000 from the victim’s Venmo account during what the victim thought was a meeting with a woman he had met on a dating site, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.

JOSHUA ALVES, 22, was charged with masked and armed robbery (knife) in Central BMC. Judge James Coffey released Alves on personal recognizance and ordered him to stay away from the victim and the location of the offense. Alves is due back in court on December 4.

On January 29, the victim walked into a Boston police station to report an armed robbery at Cleveland Place in the North End. The victim told police he arranged to meet shortly after midnight that day with a woman he met on seeking.com, with the expectation of him paying her $400. When the victim arrived at the Margaret Street meeting site, he observed two men wearing ski masks. The victim continued to walk down Margaret Street toward Cleveland Place when the men approached him from behind, one of them brandishing a knife. One of the men yelled at the victim that the woman from the dating site was his underage sister.

The men forced the victim against a wall and ordered him to hand over his money. The victim handed them $60 in cash. The men demanded more money, saying, “that’s not good enough.” They then searched the victim’s pockets and asked him how he would have given the woman $400 if he didn’t have any more money. When the victim said he planned to pay via Venmo, the men ordered him to unlock his phone and then transferred $1,000 from the victim’s account.

The victim provided Boston police with screenshots of the Venmo transaction and the conversations with the woman. Investigators confirmed the recipient of the Venmo transaction as Joshua Alves of Taunton.

“This is a good example of the caution one should exercise whenever meeting someone for the first time, whether from this dating site or any other site. Technology is continually advancing, and the methods of bad actors are advancing right along with it. This was a very digital-aged crime in that it contained elements of two online entities—a dating site and a Venmo account. I’m grateful there were no injuries and that the victim reported everything to the police,” Hayden said.

All charged individuals are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office serves the communities of Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop, Mass. The office handles over 20,000 cases a year. More than 160 attorneys in the office practice in nine district and municipal courts, Suffolk Superior Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Supreme Judicial Court, and the Boston Juvenile Courts. The office employs some 300 people and offers a wide range of services and programs to serve anyone who comes in contact with the criminal justice system. This office is committed to educating the public about the services we provide, our commitment to crime prevention, and our dedication to keeping the residents of Suffolk County safe.

James Borghesani, Chief of Communications