James Schellhase is seeking at least $75,000 in a federal lawsuit against Dads Against Predators and others over an alleged 2024 assault at an Austin H-E-B. His complaint claims the incident cost him more than $13 million in future employment and requests triple damages that could total $39.8 million. The docket identifies the case as Schellhase v. Dads Against Predators et al., No. 1:2026cv02728, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, and lists the defendants as including the group, the D.A.P. Cares Foundation, H-E-B LP, Sweepsteaks Limited doing business as Stake.US, and individuals including Jay Cameron Carnicom and Joshua Alvin Mundy, according to the docket.
Police account of the 2024 encounter
In a report on the police investigation, CBS Austin said the incident occurred Sept. 28, 2024, at the H-E-B at 2652 Lake Austin Boulevard. Police identified the victim as a 66-year-old man and said three to four men confronted him as he tried to leave. The report said one suspect hit him in the back of the head with a pumpkin about the size of a basketball. Police identified Carnicom as a suspect who taunted the man and filmed the confrontation. The report also said investigators believed the suspects used online dating platforms, including Grindr, to lure people to public confrontations.
Schellhase’s account in the complaint differs in source and scope from the police report. Chron and the Austin American-Statesman reported that the complaint says he had been messaging two adult men online and stopped responding after the accounts said they were minors. He alleges the contacts continued and that he eventually agreed to meet one account operator at the H-E-B. The complaint says men confronted and punched him, accused him of being a pedophile and blocked him from leaving.
Claims about the video and financial losses
The complaint alleges the confrontation video received more than 44 million views and that the group sent it to Schellhase’s employer. He says he was suspended and then fired. Separately, CBS Austin reported that police said the video was sent to the victim’s employer and that suspects demanded $400,000 in Bitcoin to prevent further disclosure.
Schellhase further alleges that, after he refused to pay, the group posted the footage with his personal phone number and he received hundreds of threatening messages. UnitedLex announced that General Counsel Renee Meisel replaced former CEO James Schellhase with immediate effect in a company statement. That announcement confirms the leadership change but does not say why Schellhase left or establish a connection to the events he alleges.
The lawsuit’s allegations about the group
The complaint also accuses Dads Against Predators of using false dating profiles, having account operators claim to be minors, and filming confrontations to earn money through social media and its website. Those allegations and the group’s alleged history of extortion are described in Chron’s report on the lawsuit; the Statesman also reported on the group’s alleged tactics and identified it as founded in 2020 by Carnicom and Mundy. The lawsuit includes claims of assault and battery, false imprisonment, civil RICO liability, civil conspiracy, commercial disparagement, unjust enrichment and breach of privacy. These are allegations, not findings by the court.
