New Jersey con man charged with using dating services to scam women

Patrick Giblin sounds like the perfect man.

He's 52, single, and living at his beachfront home at the Jersey Shore. He doesn't care about a woman's weight, or appearance because he's more interested in her inner beauty.

At least that's what he told women looking for love through dating services, according to federal authorities who say Giblin is actually a con man.

He captured the hearts of lonely women, then stole their money using fantastic tales, authorities allege.

On Monday, Giblin appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ann Marie Donio in Camden for his first appearance on the most recent charges that he used telephone dating services to scam women from 2012 through 2014.

On the very day he was scheduled to be released from federal detention, Donio did what dozens of other women wanted. The judge ordered Giblin back to jail with no bail set.

This is at least the third time Giblin, formerly of Ventnor and Atlantic City, has been in trouble on accusations that he scammed women. Those he hurt included widows, single parents, and one mother who recently lost a child, according to court records.

In 2006, Giblin pleaded guilty, and subsequently was sent to prison, for a scheme that netted him more than $200,000 from women throughout the United States. At sentencing, a Camden federal judge called him a "crook" and "scam artist."

Giblin begged for mercy after two years in jail, asking in a letter to the judge to reduce his sentence for "one final chance" and the opportunity to "do the right thing."

In 2012, he was placed in a residential reentry program in Philadelphia. In 2013, Giblin was given a one-day pass to find work in Atlantic City, but he never returned. Weeks later, federal authorities found him in an Atlantic City hotel, gaming women again on telephone dating services, including Lavalife and Night Exchange, according to court documents.

At the time of his last arrest in February 2013, authorities asked about $711 he had. A friend gave him some, the rest he won while gambling, he said. When asked whether he had received money from women, Giblin reportedly indicated that he had been involved with one woman.

That's not what investigators discovered when they executed a warrant for Room 106 at the Rodeway Inn. Among other things, he kept a log of women he interacted with on telephone dating chat lines. He noted their hobbies, physical descriptions, and where they lived. According to court records, he noted one woman who "has savings account," her home was paid off and she is "not a golddigger (sic)."

He served more time on an escape charge, but months later, in December 2013, he was released from prison again, this time on supervised release, according to court records. He violated the conditions of his release by leaving New Jersey, and has remained jailed in New Jersey since December 2014. Since, he was indicted again for financially exploiting women from December 2012 through December 2014.

Typically, after winning the confidence of women, Giblin asked them to wire him money to pay for emergency situations such as car repairs or moving expenses. He told them he was relocating to the area where they lived, and promised to pay them back, according to a criminal complaint. The complaint includes a sample of victims - eight in five states and Canada who lost more than $7,000 to Giblin.

He told a North Jersey woman that he had a beach house in Ventnor, and that his father was a judge, according to court records. He also said he had a career in the casino industry, but was between jobs. She loaned him more than $700 before realizing he lied.

At the same time, according to court records, he had convinced a woman in Delaware County to send him nearly $1,300 that he promised to pay back after he received money he won in a gambling tournament. When they were to meet, he never showed, and never returned her money.

Another woman from Fayette County, Pa., told Giblin she received disability checks each month from Social Security. He promised to visit her. In the meantime, from March 2014 and May 2014, she wired him $2,270.

If convicted of the newer charges, Giblin faces up to 20 years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine.

bboyer@phillynews.com

856-779-3838 @BBBoyer