July 2007

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Beware craigslist bearing iPods

July 31, 2007 in Craigslist, Predators by Trench Reynolds | 8 comments

Meridian Man Arrested in Park with a Knife:
This story comes to us from the bustling metropolis of Boise, Idaho and it’s a rather bizarre tale. It seems there was an ad on craigslist for a free iPod Nano. Too good to be true you say? You have no idea.

“I responded to it with the anticipation that several other people would because it seemed a little odd,” said a woman, we’re calling Sarah to hide her identity.

Sarah heard back almost immediately.

“I did get response back from him with a little story about how he had a wife cheating on him and he needed to take her ipod from her and give it away because of the situation he had had with her,” said Sarah.

The man told Sarah he was going to hide the Ipod from his wife in a public place and arrange for someone to take it.

All she had to do was show up to at the Youth Sports Complex Park on McMillan Road around 10:30 p.m.

Those who responded to the ad were told to come to this porta potty and that the Ipod would be right in front of the toilet paper holder

“It sounded very odd so what my husband and I did was get the emergency dispatch number for the police… drove past the park saw a car sitting there,” said Sarah.

Sarah says the car was right next to the porta potty.

She and her husband drove across the street to a near by shopping area and called Boise police.

They responded quickly and took the man into custody.

“The police told us that he had had a black nylon mask on his face, a lap top in his car that he had been email people on, a black pair of gloves a butcher knife and a beebe gun,” said Sarah.

32 year old, Stephen Donald Newman, of Meridian was arrested and charged with 2 misdemeanors – being in a park after hours and carrying a concealed weapon.

Since no felony had been committed, he was able to quickly bond out of jail.

Now that Newman is free, Sarah is afraid of retaliation which is why she has chosen to hide her identity.

And what did craigslist have to say? The usual…

We attempted to reach Craigslist for comment but have not yet heard back from them.

Craiglist says that their ads are policed by its users. But in this case every cop is a criminal.

In today’s craigslist hooker news

July 29, 2007 in Craigslist, Prostitution/Human Trafficking by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Cops nab couple for peddling prostitution on Craigslist:
Randi Jo Goodwin, 22, and Jimmy Rodger Varner, 40, both of Clackamas County, Oregon, have been arrested on prostitution charges that were “blatantly advertised” on craigslist.

The couple were engaged in what police this morning described as “blatantly obvious” prostitution activities that were advertised on Craigslist.

Police seized drug paraphernalia, several computers, printers and fax machines and undisclosed amount of cash and credit cards. Detective Jim Strovink said Varner was involved in prostitution for “a considerable amount of time.” He said Varner referred to the amount of money he made last year as a result of promoting prostitution.

Strovink said Varner took half of the money made by at least two women who were prostituting themselves.

Strovink said authorities do not know the whereabouts of the second woman.

Then again isn’t all prostitution on craigslist blatantly advertised?

In today’s craigslist hooker news

July 26, 2007 in Craigslist, Prostitution/Human Trafficking by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Sheriff: 250 Prostitutes Busted, Most Found Clients Online:
Cook County, Illinois Sheriff’s have netted an impressive 250 prostitutes in a sting. A chunk of them advertised on craigslist. And some words of wisdom from the Sheriff himself.

Sheriff Tom Dart says you can go to the site at any given time and find hundreds of ads for what often are euphemistically referred to as erotic services.

Why not working on getting craigslist to remove the ads? Dart says the site doesn’t have a strong screening mechanism. In his words, “We wish that they did. We’re going to strongly suggest (it) to them but I’m not holding my breath.”

In the meantime, says Dart, his office will continue cracking down and carrying out more undercover operations for what he says is hardly a victimless crime.

Prostitution, he says, degrades the communities where it’s practiced.

Amen brother.

In today’s craigslist hooker news

July 23, 2007 in Craigslist, Prostitution/Human Trafficking by Trench Reynolds | 8 comments

This story is for those who say prostitution is a victimless crime and that cops should be going after real criminals.

St. Paul Woman Charged With Prostituting Teen Over Internet:

ST. PAUL (AP) – A St. Paul woman is accused of keeping a 17-year-old girl in her basement and forcing her into prostitution.

Jessica Elizabeth Lopez is charged in Ramsey County with promoting, soliciting and receiving profits from prostitution.

Authorities say Lopez forced the girl to get the name “Jessica” tattooed on her stomach to label her as Lopez’s property.

Lopez allegedly found clients for the girl on the craigslist web site.

Even if prostitution was legalized there would still be people like this trying to get around the system.

In today’s craigslist hooker news

July 21, 2007 in Craigslist, Prostitution/Human Trafficking by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Today is a banner day for craigslist hooker news. Let’s begin.

Manhattan man sentenced for arranging Dominican sex tours:
29-year-old Saeed Ahmed was convicted back in May for running prostitute laden sex tours of the Dominican Republic. Of course he advertised in craigslist. He was only sentenced to 10 days community service and five years probation.

Oldest profession, latest technology: Cops bust 30 on prostitution charges:
Police in New York State, specifically the areas of Greenburgh, Rye, Rye Brook and Elmsford, have made 30 arrests between May and June of prostittues and johns where the prostitutes were using craigslist.

Kingston sex sting nets 6:
Police in Kingston, New Hampshire used a phony ad on craigslist to set up a prostitution sting and netted 6 johns. A couple pillars of the community were arrested and boy are the locals pissed. Check out the comments at the bottom of the article. All suspects are looking at a year in jail and a $1K fine.

craigslist story

July 19, 2007 in Craigslist, Scams by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Just relaying a somewhat personal story about craigslist. My wife’s boss advertised some furniture for sale on craigslist for $600. He received two offers for $4000 a piece each stating that the extra money was for shipping. One even overnighted a check to him. Luckily he knew he was being scammed. I advised him to contact the FBI.

craigslist job interview gone wrong

July 18, 2007 in Craigslist, Scams by Trench Reynolds | 6 comments

Woman: Craigslist Ad Leads To Inappropriate Interview:
This is a new one on me since people who place employment ads with craigslist have to actually pay for the ad. I guess you can’t even trust employment ads on the internet’s hive of scum and villainy.

PHILADELPHIA — A Conshohocken woman said she was just looking for work when an online ad on Craigslist caught her eye.

Aleshia Endy, 22, said she now hopes police catch the man who ran the ad.

“I thought it was a legit position. I really thought it was something, but now I’m grossed out,” Endy said.

Endy said the job ad on the nationwide Web site, Craigslist.com, appeared to be perfect for her.

“I responded to it, said apply for personal assistant/office manager, so I sent my picture and resume,” Endy said.

Endy said she later found out that when the author wrote “female preferred” and “obey instructions” in the ad, he meant it.

After responding to the ad, Endy called her potential employer, Eber Devine.

Endy said Devine told her he was moving from one office to another, so he wanted to set up the interview at the University of Pennsylvania campus at the Van Pelt Library.

“He met me outside. We went upstairs to where there’s, like, conference rooms,” Endy said.

Endy said, at first, everything seemed fine. She filled out an application and agreed to a background check, and he promised her a generous salary.

But right in the middle of the interview came the shocker.

“He told me, ‘I want you to stand up. Go walk around the room. Go stand in the corner. I want to look at your ass,’” Endy said.

Endy said she told him no, and when she started to walk away it became uncomfortable.

“He stood up. He came over and started touching my shoulders and my chest and got real close and started breathing on me heavily,” Endy said.

Endy said she pushed him away and left, but Devine had Endy’s cell phone number from the application and apparently was not finished talking.

“Yeah, Aleshia, I think you are an excellent candidate,” one message said.

“He called me about six times. I have it in my call log,” Endy said.

Endy contacted the NBC 10 Investigators and the police.

NBC 10′s Harry Hairston started looking into Devine’s background and found pages and pages of court records.

Court documents show Devine’s criminal history goes back as far as 1986.

NBC 10′s investigation turned up five different mug shots, some of which were taken between 2002 and December 2006.

The self-proclaimed CEO also has a laundry list of guilty pleas.

Records show he pleaded guilty to theft of leased property, unlawful use of a computer, forgery, and criminal conspiracy.

NBC 10 went to Devine’s Philadelphia home. The 38-year-old self-styled entrepreneur lives with his father.

Hairston asked Devine’s father if he knew anything about the ad on Craigslist.

“That’s something he’s doing. He’s a grown man. I don’t know anything about it,” Devine’s father said.

Hours after the visit, Devine called NBC 10. He wouldn’t go on camera, but he did admit to placing the ad on Craigslist, claiming to be the CEO of his own company and interviewing Endy.

Devine denies anything inappropriate happened during the interview,

That may be for a court to decide. The district attorney’s Office has issued a warrant for his arrest.

He’s facing charges of sexual harassment, false imprisonment, indecent assault, unlawful restraint and burglary.

“I just want him off the streets. I want the women out there to know what kind of person he is. I want him off the streets,” Endy said.

Police said they are looking for Devine.

And a spokeperson for Craigslist said illegal activity is forbidden on Craigslist by the company’s terms of use, and is not welcome on the site.

I can almost see the craigslist spokesperson winking as they say that.

In today’s craiglist hooker news

July 15, 2007 in Craigslist, Prostitution/Human Trafficking by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Three jailed on prostitution rap:
This happened in Idaho. There’s probably a joke in there somewhere.

SANDPOINT — Three people were arrested Thursday for allegedly selling sex through craigslist, a free online community which connects people with jobs, apartments, vehicles and other services.

Lavelle Necoy Baudin, 23, Randi Jo Friss , 24, and Selene Ann Mende, 29, were arrested during a sting operation conducted at a Sandpoint motel on Thursday night, police Chief Mark Lockwood said.

“It’s probably the first prostitution arrest in Sandpoint since the second world war,” he said.

The man and two women are charged with participating in a joint venture to accept prostitution earnings, a felony offense. The three made initial court appearances Friday via video feed from the Bonner County Jail.

A search of craigslist on Friday showed only one entry for “erotic” services in Sandpoint. Posted on July 6, the entry advertised “2 erotic entertainers” who were available for “discreet outcall encounters” at the rate of “200 roses each or $350 for both.”

Contained in the posting were four images of two scantily clad women in a variety of sexually suggestive poses.

Lockwood said the case is particularly unnerving because of the criminal elements which travel the same orbit as those involved in prostitution, including sexual offenders.

Just more proof that this is happening everywhere.

In today’s craigslist hooker news

July 14, 2007 in Craigslist, Prostitution/Human Trafficking by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Teen charged with running prostitution ring of high schoolers:

MINNEAPOLIS — Federal authorities are investigating a 19-year-old Eagan, Minn. woman suspected of operating a prostitution ring of high school students through the motel where she worked.

Justine Alex Reisdorf was charged last month in a federal criminal complaint with recruiting minors for prostitution after some teenage girls who allegedly worked for her told investigators that she was actively recruiting clients for sex.

Investigators believe that Reisdorf advertised in the “erotic services” section of Craigslist.org, an Internet bulletin board, and more recently on the “Live Links” telephone chat line, according to a sworn statement by FBI agent Lisa Nielsen.

Reisdorf, the mother of a 14-month-old girl, was charged June 14 with recruiting minors for a prostitution ring that operated in Dakota County from November 2006 until June. Nielsen, of the FBI, outlined the case in several affidavits filed to obtain search warrants and to substantiate the complaint.

Bratulich learned that Reisdorf was recruiting high school girls to work for her as prostitutes at a townhouse she rented in Burnsville, Nielsen said.

Bratulich found advertisements on Craigslist that read: “Hi Fellas. it’s the party girls …200 roses for 2 hours for one of us … 375 roses for 2 hours for 3 of us … Kandy, Deja and Carmen.” He learned that “Deja” was an alias used by Reisdorf, and that “roses” was a code word for dollars.

Last month, another juvenile told Bratulich that Reisdorf was “actively recruiting minor children to engage in acts of prostitution,” Nielsen said. The investigation indicated that Reisdorf was using her job at the Hampton Inn in Burnsville “to obtain hotel rooms for purposes of prostitution,” she continued.

So Reisdorf has a kid and was recruiting minor girls. Remember kids, there is no such thing as a victimless crime.

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California police looking for craigslist robbers

July 7, 2007 in Craigslist, Robbery by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Pittsburg police look for robbers who lured through cyber ad:
Like I needed to give you another reason not to do business on craigslist.

PITTSBURG — In a disturbing new trend of cyber crime, Pittsburg police are looking for two robbers who lured victims Tuesday evening to an apartment complex with a Craigslist classified ad.

Two San Jose men drove to Contra Costa to purchase a computer advertised for sale on the popular community Web site, Pittsburg Lt. Brian Addington said.

When no one showed at the original meeting location in Concord, the men called the sellers, who gave a new address to an apartment complex in the 2100 block of Crestview Drive in Pittsburg. When the buyers arrived around 6:45 p.m., two gunmen approached the car and demanded their money, Addington said.

One gunman ordered one of the victims out of the car, holding him hostage at the apartments, while the other gunman forced the second buyer to drive around to area ATM machines to withdraw cash, Addington said.

After hitting two ATMs, the hostage was driving to another cash machine, when he spotted an officer in the Foods Co. parking lot at 300 Atlantic Ave. He headed toward the officer, flagging him down and yelling that he was being robbed, Addington said.

The gunman jumped out of the moving car and darted inside the Foods Co. supermarket. The officer gave chase, but lost the gunman in the warehouse area, Addington said.

Police evacuated some 50 to 75 customers and employees from the supermarket while officers surrounded the building. Police searched the building and neighboring area, but it appeared the gunman ultimately

escaped out the back door, Addington said.

Meanwhile, the gunman at the apartment complex pistol-whipped that victim and fled before police arrived. The man was treated for minor head injuries. The other victim was unharmed.

The bandits posted identical ads on Craigslist for different neighborhoods, including the Dublin/Pleasanton/Livermore and Concord/Pleasant Hill/Martinez areas. All of the listings have been removed from the site, Addington said.

The article states that when buying something from craigslist you should meet the seller in a public place. I disagree because I’ve posted stories here before about people who were robbed when meeting an alleged seller in a public place. My word of advice is not to do business on craigslist at all.

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