DEVELOPING: Alleged Internet Casanova arrested in Mishawaka

MISHAWAKA, Ind. – A man who is suspected of meeting women online and stealing more than their hearts has been arrested on a Howard County warrant for felony theft. He is accused of stealing from women in seven different states.

Raymond Holycross was arrested in Mishawaka Tuesday around 2 a.m. at the Addison Apartments off Main Street.

According to Theresa Bridegroom, she had been living with and dating Holycross, who she knew as Ray Paris, since September.

She said the two met through a mutual friend and Holycross told her he was a news producer that worked for various news organizations across the country. She agreed to let him stay at her apartment with her and her son after he promised to pay her rent.

The two became romantically involved after a few weeks.

She said Holycross asked to borrow her $700 camera so she loaned it to him in November, but he never returned it.

Recently she found a pawn shop receipt for her camera in his backpack. 

“I had found a receipt from a pawn shop and it was for my camera,” said Bridegroom.

When she confronted him about the receipt she said he denied the camera he sold to the pawn shop was hers and he claimed her camera was in his desk drawer at work.

Bridegroom said she took a picture of the pawn shop receipt and decided shortly after to file a police report.

On the receipt he had printed and signed his name Raymond D. Holycross.

She said Raymond had always told her his last name was Paris and she even saw that name on what looked like a legit passport.

After confronting him a week ago she said he avoided confrontation and instead said the two needed space and she didn't see him for 4 days straight.

She said the Mishawaka detective working on the case told her it's likely he would not return to her apartment. However Bridegroom said she knew how to get him back there. She said she texted Raymond and told him she just got her tax money back and wanted to spend some of it.

She said within a few hours he had contacted her and said he was hopping on a train and heading back to the area. After picking him up at the airport and getting back to her Mishawaka apartment Bridegroom said she called police and let them know he was there.

Around 2 a.m. close to 8 police officers came knocking on the door and Holycross answered.

Shortly after she learned Raymond's last name wasn't Paris as he had told her, but instead was Holycross.

When he was arrested on Tuesday, Bridegroom said police found a gun in his backpack. Police told her it was reported stolen by one of his ex-girlfriends.

She said he told her he carried a gun with him when he traveled out of the country on assignment for various journalism jobs.

"After he was arrested looking into things that's when I found out what his real last name was. It was Holycross and that's when I found out all the information about all of the websites and dating sites,” said Bridegroom.

The Mishawaka Police gave Bridegroom Holycross' iPhone he used for the past two months after she produced the documentation showing she purchased it for him and was paying for his service under her monthly cell plan.

He had a pass code on the phone but to her surprise Tuesday night he gave police the correct code to unlock his phone and his secret life.

Bridegroom said she spent hours reading texts between Holycross and close to 25 other women he was having romantic relationships with who lived in Michiana and beyond. She also saw his messages between upward of 40 women who he is romantically involved with that he met through a dating website.

She has made it her mission to notify each and every woman of his past and who he really is.

Holycross allegedly has victims in seven states: Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Texas, Oregon and Utah.

A woman in Oregon claims he drained her bank account and skipped town.

A woman in Salt Lake City, Utah, Sarah Berry, let Holycross stay at her place.

She then Googled his name and found out he lied about who he was and kicked him out.

She kept his backpack. Inside there were condoms, body spray and some clues as to where he had been.

"These are phone numbers from women he met since Portland,” said Berry.

There was also the receipt for a stolen laptop that he had allegedly taken to a pawn shop and sold.

One alleged victim created a website dedicated to alerting others to Holycross and his alleged con.

Holycross is an Indiana native.

He is being held on a Howard County, Indiana warrant on felony theft charges. He is accused of stealing an iPad, iPod and 9 mm Glock from a woman there.