Good Morning to all who are interested,
I too, like Newbie 2013 have very recently had the dubious pleasure of Andrew, he contacted me on a dating website a couple of weeks ago using Lohtse as his profile name. After a few days of (very gentlemanly) messages he offered his phone number and since Thursday we have been texting and have spoken a couple of times, I was fed the same lies as Newbie (and god knows how many others!) regarding the Military/SAR etc, etc, etc. He went into extaordinary detail and seemed very knowledgeable about Mountain Rescue/SAR. Over this weekend I was a hares whisker away from picking him up to go caving somewhere in Sheffield that he suggested (I have googled it and cannot find ANYTHING!). Because I thought he was a member of MRT and had 'everything that I would need' at no time did I feel that I could be in any danger and I suspect this is the case with others he may have lied to. Over the weekend he had some 'call outs' and 'had to go to base' which as a MRTL I would expect, I have since tried to find info on these events on various MRT websites/Facebook but alas nothing.... Only on Sunday night he texted saying that he had been providing First Aid and Safety Cover at Sheffield Film Festival, my first thought was what safety cover could possibly be needed to watch films??? Call it female intuition but that was when I really started to smell a rat....I searched the internet for the said Film Festival, the only ones I could find happened in Spring 2013 and the next is scheduled for Spring 2014 (looks good though!) I did yesterday however find out that he was on Sheffield Forum (username Lohtse) and had joined the Sheffield Shamblers a few years ago, there seemed to be something 'interesting' going on there, let's put it this way you could sense the friction (could Andrew have 'fanned the flames???').
I was all set to give Andrew the benefit of the doubt but there was a niggle at the back of my mind that just wouldn't go away so last night while on cooking duty armed with a glass of red I typed in my search bar Andrew Lohtse Mountain Rescue Team Leader Sheffield (I didn't know his surname)and stumbled upon this site THANK GOD!!!
I stayed up way past my usual bedtime to read all the 7 pages plus about this topic and can see both sides of the arguement, as a female who almost put her trust in him thinking that he had all the skills and safety awareness (beleive me he sounds very convincing, polite, friendly, knowledgeable etc,etc,etc) because he was very good at saying he'd been 'called on duty/had to go to 'base' and had all the answers to my questions. PLEASE DO NOT CLOSE THIS TOPIC DOWN it is the ONLY source of info on this 'gentleman' and people need to know. As I have said I took the time to read ALL the posts on here about this man, I can see all sides and have made my mind up if he is Hero or Villain. I know that he has done nothing illegal BUT he is befriending people based on lies about his involvement with a very, very worthwhile and respected organisation. As I am someone who has raised money for Mountain Rescue (I have a friend who was in RPMRT in Lancashire) I find it very hard to swallow....
For all those who wish for this topic to be closed ask yourself this...Would you want your daughter, sister, grandaughter etc,etc,etc coming into contact with this man? I know I have to take resposability for my own actions but I'm the kind of person who always tries to see the good in the world, now I feel very foolish indeed.
For anyone who wants to know he is on POF username Lohtse, his profile is very, very good and sadly he will dupe many more women....
As my last contact with him was only yesterday I still have his phone number, he gave me his address on Saturday (if it's the right one) and I will be keeping this should any authorities need it at a later date. I will of course contact the dating site to warn of his dishonesty but sadly there isn't a lot that they can do, after all it's not a crime.....
Thank you to everyone who has contributed, I have a clearer picture now.
