Transgender Woman Says Man She Met on App Attacked Her

A transgender woman from Springfield says she has no idea why a man she met on a dating app attacked her.

Tenia Williams told The Springfield News-Leader Tuesday that she met 24-year-old Dominic James on PlentyofFish on Aug. 18. She said after they met for consensual sex the next day, James suddenly came out of a bathroom and choked her and attacked her with a knife, while asking where she kept her money.

Williams was eventually able to break away and escape. She was treated for several cuts.

James was later arrested in Georgia on an unrelated matter. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday to two counts of assault and armed criminal action.

Greene County Prosecutor Dan Patterson declined to say Tuesday whether he had considered filing hate-crime charges.