January 2007

Neighbors say pricey Beach house site of much criminal activity:

This is a tale of what happens when a craigslist advertised house of prostitution moves into the suburbs…

VIRGINIA BEACH – The neighborhood near Hilltop was quiet until “that lady and her problems” moved in – a $500,000 brick ranch-style house with a pool – more than a year ago.

Neighbors said the woman of the house did not seem to fit into the neighborhood of pricey homes. Neither did the others – some of them minors – who drifted in and out of the house at all hours.

So, the neighbors complained.

Before long, police officers had responded to 20 calls to the house for complaints of fighting, domestic assaults, drugs and disputes.

Investigators eventually came to believe that the house might be a den of drugs and prostitution that advertised on Craigslist.org, according to a police search warrant affidavit.

Over the weekend, police raided the house.

On Sunday, police charged three residents – Silesia Hope Rogowski, 38; her son, Ryan Rogowski, 20; and George Kyriacou, her 45-year-old boyfriend who owns the property – with several counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Silesia Rogowski was also charged with drug possession.

Meanwhile, Silesia Rogowski – who has been arrested 32 times in Virginia Beach since 1990 and convicted of five felonies, according to the search warrant affidavit – is being held at the city jail. Her son and boyfriend have been released, police spokeswoman Margie Long said.

In one case, an anonymous caller to Crime Solvers claimed that the property was being used to distribute drugs and might be a prostitution house, according to the search warrant affidavit.

Acting on that tip, police learned that sexual services were being offered online by a woman named Hope, the affidavit said. A listing at Craigslist.org, under the Web site’s “erotic services” section, described a unique headboard inside the house, a lighted hallway with sexually explicit photographs and a phone number.

It was the same phone number Silesia Rogowski gave to a police officer during an earlier encounter, the affidavit said.

Victimless crime huh?

Beaverton prostitution sting targets ads on craigslist.org:

There’s a joke in that headline somewhere. Other than that it’s your usual “cops bust hookers on craigslist” story. This time in Beaverton, Orgeon.

Heh heh heh…Beaverton

Selling Sex Online:

It seems that the Memphis media has heard about craigslist hookers. In their blistering expose they inform a local busybody about the existence of craigslist prostitution and of course he’s outraged about it. The article even goes so far as to call the people placing ads “perverts”…

One Memphis man said he would make a generous offer to a mother and daughter who would have sex with him.

Some perverts bold enough to post their phone number on their ad. We responded anonymously to a couple of the ads and got responses back within five minutes.

All in all this article is quite humorous for its naivety but this part I found kind of disturbing…

We sent an email to the CEO of Craigslist to ask why these ads are allowed on the website when it clearly states in their terms of use pornographic pictures or messages are not allowed on the site. Jim Buckmaster never emailed us back.

So if it’s against craigslist’s TOS why do they allow it to continue?

Women charged with offering girls for sex:

I’ll give you 3 guesses of which website they were advertising on. I’ll give you a hint. It rhymes with gregslist.

Cook County Sheriffs in Illinois conducted a craigslist prostitution sting which resulted in finding prostitutes ages 14, 15 and 16-years-old. Those charged in separate incidents were Tamara Cotton, 25, who was charged with keeping a place of prostitution and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and one count of pimping and child endangerment. Christina Holt, 19, who is charged with keeping a house of prostitution. Holt’s boyfriend, Montrell Knight, 34, who was storing guns and drugs for the Gangster Disciples, was charged with nine counts of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, armed violence and three drug-related charges.

The teen prostitutes themselves are not being treated as criminals and Cook County is trying to get them help.

So what does craigslist have to say about this?

Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster wrote in an e-mail Thursday that illegal activity is prohibited on the site, and that the erotic services page is intended for use by “legal escort services and sensual massage providers.”

“It was added at the request of our users, who wanted these ads separated from our general personals categories,” he wrote. “We appreciate and are fully cooperative with law enforcement efforts.”

Legal escort services and sensual massage providers? Take it from someone who grew up in a town rife with prostitution, there is no such animal as “legal” escort services and sensual massage.

Once again craigslist is turning a blind eye to illegal activity on their site. They say that they’re fully cooperative with law enforcement but it seems to me that it’s after the fact.

Thanks to Tim for the link.