A convicted serial rapist who stalked his prey on Tinder might stroll free this October after serving lower than a yr in jail — and one in all his victims “terrified” after her 11-year battle to lock him up.
“The Workplace” actress Shira Scott Astrof is without doubt one of the a minimum of half a dozen girls in Los Angeles that Matthew Werner has been accused of catfishing on courting apps and brutally sexually assaulting.
Werner, 49, is up for parole in October, solely 9 months after being sentenced to 4 years in jail, in keeping with on-line information.
“It’s like a unending battle, and it shouldn’t be this difficult,” Astrof advised The Submit. “There’s no justice system right here. We have now to be our personal advocate.”
Astrof, whose credit embody “Legal Minds,” met Werner, who’s initially from Massachusetts, on the web courting app in 2015, besides he was masquerading as Sebastian Larsson, a soccer star from Sweden.
On the day of their scheduled date, Astrof stated she wasn’t feeling effectively and Werner provided to carry soup to her residence.
She stated he was good at first, however then openly revealed he introduced cocaine and allegedly did a line in entrance of her.
Then he attacked her from behind, Astrof recalled.
He choked her and dislocated her shoulder in the course of the horrific assault — leaving her on the ground as he walked out.
“He’s a coward that has to assault you when your again is turned,” Astrof stated. “He has no soul.”
She reported the assault to police instantly and was rushed to the hospital.
Astrof stated that within the years to return, she was advised by Los Angeles County officers that her case wasn’t robust sufficient by itself, and that she’d want one other one in all his victims to return ahead to testify alongside her.
Police ultimately tied Werner to a minimum of half a dozen rapes throughout Los Angeles County, in keeping with information studies on the time.
He was lastly arrested in 2023 in Las Vegas.
Authorities consider there have been a number of different victims who didn’t report the heinous assaults. He was charged with three counts of sexual assault in opposition to two girls, together with Astrof.
Cops stated he used completely different aliases on social media to search out victims for his drug-fueled assaults.
“He was an actual Jekyll and Hyde,” LAPD Detective Brent Hopkins advised the Los Angeles Occasions.
The case by no means went to trial. As an alternative, Werner was provided a candy plea deal in 2023 — no contest to 1 rely of felony assault and one misdemeanor rely of sexual battery. He was given probation, in keeping with the Los Angeles District Lawyer’s Workplace, and needed to register as a intercourse offender.
He was lastly sentenced to 4 years in jail in February, after a choose dominated he had violated his probation for a 3rd time. Amongst his violations have been touring out of state and utilizing faux aliases to speak to girls on-line as soon as once more.
“I saved emailing them and I saved saying like, ‘It’s good to discover him, it’s essential hint him. I do know that he’s not abiding by something,’” Astrof stated. “I’ve simply been the detective by myself case in each means.”
Astrof lastly felt reduction when the four-year sentence was handed down.
However she is now terrified once more.
She was checking his jail standing, on-line as she routinely does, and noticed he was up for parole in October.
“I spoke to the 2 primary detectives on the case two days in the past, and so they each had no concept why it was taking place,” she stated.
“I’m a sitting goal. He is aware of all the pieces about me, he is aware of the place I stay. He received’t cease, we already know that. He’s already violated each single a part of his probation.”
She blames Los Angeles and California’s gentle on crime legal justice system for the lenient punishment — particularly Democratic Choose Serena Raquel Murillo, who accepted Werner’s sweetheart plea deal.
“She was so disrespectful,” Astrof stated of Murillo, who was nominated as a federal district choose by former President Joe Biden in November 2024, and was appointed to the position in January 2025.
“She violated each single one in all my . . . rights” to equity, privateness and security, Astrof stated.
The LA District Lawyer’s Workplace declined to remark and Murillo didn’t reply to a request.
With little religion left within the legal justice system, Astrof is looking upon different survivors of Werner’s alleged assaults to return ahead.
“I simply want I might get the message to them that, ‘He’s already been convicted of raping somebody. I’ve already accomplished the legwork. You simply have to return ahead,’” she pleaded.
“I simply want one in all them, only one to return ahead and maintain him there.”
Werner’s lawyer didn’t return a request for remark.
