November 2007

Grand jury hands up first-degree murder charges in Olson case:
A Minnesota grand jury handed down an indictment today of first degree murder for 19-year-old Michael John Anderson. Anderson is accused of killing 24-year-old Katherine Ann Olson after Olson answered a phony employment ad placed by Anderson.

When Savage police interviewed Anderson, he initially denied having contact with Olson.

Anderson then admitted to being present when Olson died. He said a friend killed the woman because he “thought it would be funny.”

However the evidence that’s been released mostly points to Anderson acting alone.

After a bloodied towel - with Anderson’s name inked on it and Olson’s smashed cell phone wrapped inside - was found in a nearby Savage park, authorities picked up Anderson from his job fueling airplanes at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. His phone number was the last one called on Olson’s phone.

Minnesota does not have the death penalty as much as this scumbag deserves it.

Craigslist sale ends in Fremont robberies:
An elaborate robbery scheme involving craigslist took place on Wednesday in Fremont, California.

The man told police that he saw a Sony Vaio laptop computer for sale on Craigslist and agreed to meet the sellers in Ardenwood to purchase the item.

When he arrived, the sellers showed him the computer. But just seconds into the transaction, a stranger appeared from the complex, asked what was in the bag, then demanded the computer while displaying the handle of a silver gun that was tucked in his waistband, the San Jose man told police.

The robber also demanded cash from the San Jose man, but fled when the victim said he had none.

Moments later, the sellers of the computer confronted the San Jose man and demanded the $1,400 in cash, which was how much the laptop was supposed to cost.

The sellers then rifled through the victim’s front pockets, took his wallet — which contained no cash — his cell phone and car keys, which they used to unlock his car and steal other items, Veteran said. The man had hidden the cash in a back pocket, police said.

After the sellers ran off, the San Jose man reported the incident to police. He told officers the whole thing may have been a setup.

The anonymity of craigslist continues to breed more criminals.

Craigslist Marriage Scheme Busted:
The Smoking Gun has a nice little post about 25-year-old Yuliya Kalinina. Kalinina was arrested for marrying 30-year-old Benjamin Adams just to stay in the country. She advertised the proposed scam marriage on craigslist.

According to a criminal complaint unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Kalinina’s various Craigslist posts sought a “business marriage” or “Green Card Marriage” in return for a total of $15,000. The proposed union, Kalinina noted, was a “strictly platonic business offer, sex not involved.”

Adams was arrested as well for taking part in the scam. Both are facing a max of five years in federal prison.

‘I just didn’t expect this kind of violation’:
Harassment is stating to become such a regular theme with craigslist that I may have to give it its own category.

This time it’s a woman from Tacoma, Washington who is feeling the wrath of an ex-employee that she fired. The harrasor (is that a word?) took the usual route of posting a pic of the harassee on craigslist along with several phone numbers advertising what can be called “a good time”.

The calls to her work phone and a strange man’s voice telling her, “hope you’re having a good day and look forward to hearing back from you.” And the calls to her work phone: “I just replied to your e-mail and uhhhhh, calling this number…” and messages via e-mail.

And then, strangers started calling her personal cell phone and home phone. “At that point,” said Ann, “it became personal.”

Ann and her husband discovered the men were responding to an ad on the Craigslist Web site. It said she was a single female looking for sex with a couple. The ad even included Ann’s photograph taken from her company website.

A friend of mine and his wife used to have a phone number that was one digit off from one of these ads. After a while instead of telling people they got the wrong number they just started messing with the people calling. You need to not freak out over these things. What I would have done in this situation is since I know who placed the ad I would tell the men calling to meet me at the following address. Then I would give the address of the ex-employee who placed the ad. Problem solved.

Craigslist, helping people gain revenge since 1995.

Fallen victim to a phony Craigslist job posting?:
Investigators in Larimer County, Colorado are on the look out for one 33-year-old Todd Armstrong aka Tom Anderson. They say he’s been swindling people by asking for money on craigslist for what turned out to be phony job leads.

They say he asked for people to meet him and put down a deposit in exchange for what turned out to be false information about an envelope stuffing business, modeling with NASCAR and bicycle racing.

Three occupations I would not readily admit that I applied for.

Craigslist scammer strikes in Hoboken:
An unidentified man from Hoboken, New Jersey was swindled on craigslist when he sent $1,300 by MoneyGram to Athens, Greece in hopes of renting an apartment that was of course advertised on craigslist.

But then the man claiming to own the apartment bumped up the rent to $1,500, then demanded another $1,250 in additional rent and security deposits before sending the keys. The victim then did some research and discovered the man didn’t own the apartment. However, the $1,300 he’d already sent was long gone.

Can you name all the things this man did wrong? Saying ‘not doing business on craigslist’ doesn’t count.

Teen suicide spurs war on child prostitution:
This is an article about Atlanta’s war on child prostitution. It briefly mentions craigslist and it’s usual denial of facilitation…

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin wrote to craigslist founder Craig Newmark and Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster in August, urging them to remove postings of women engaged in activity that broke Georgia law and called on other mayors to file similar protests.

Buckmaster said the company “shares Mayor Franklin’s concerns and are evaluating her suggestions.”

The site warns its users that it prohibits illegal activity but he added: “We do not monitor the content of more than 25 million free postings craigslist users self-publish each month.”

But I mostly wanted to point out the plight of Samantha Walker who committed suicide after testifying against one of the men who paid to have sex with her when she was 15.

This is why I believe that craigslist needs to eliminate it’s erotic services section. Please read the entire article.

There are no victimless crimes.

Craigslist or Crimeslist?:
I have to thank Jim Redden of the Portland Tribune for featuring this humble site in his article about craigslist crime in the Portland, Oregon area. It’s a great article and brings up some great points that I’ll discuss later. But now it’s late and for now I just want to brag a little.

One used SUV, no questions asked:
This is a really funny article about 25-year-old Gabriel Romo of Fontana, California who was arrested for selling a stolen SUV on craigslist. I’ll just give you a tease from the article…

For sale on Craigslist: 1998 Subaru Forester.

Pink slip not included.

And it just gets funnier from there.

Woman Harassed By Online Ads:
An unidentified Baltimore woman had her phone number listed on craigslist on three separate ads that she didn’t place. One for a room for rent, one for a free TV, and another for a free Playstation. Craigslist removed the ads each time but won’t do anything to keep her number from being posted again.

Again, craigslist removed the ad, but refused to divulge any information about who posted it without a subpoena or search warrant.

Police weren’t much help either.

“They basically told me I would have to identify the person to move forward with a harassment case. My point was that I don’t know who the person is. I need their help,” she said.

After contacting craigslist again the calls finally stopped. What is the woman’s opinion of craigslist?

“What upset me most is that craigslist took absolutely no responsibility,” the woman said.

They never do.

Family Finds Friend Hurt, Possibly Beaten:
A Hillsboro, Oregon woman was found in her friend’s yard half naked and disoriented Thanksgiving night. The victim allegedly went on a date that night with a man she met on craigslist.

Roberts called 911. Later at the hospital, she said her friend briefly talked about a man in a black leather jacket with fuzzy facial hair.

“She kept calling him the boogie man and was crying and kept asking not to be hurt,” Roberts said.

The woman did have a date set up Thursday night with a man she met on Craigslist. Roberts said she gave the man directions over the phone and she knew they planned to go out for dinner.

That was the first time they’d ever met. Roberts said giving out her address and phone number was a mistake.

I’m not blaming the victim but the internet has been around for how long now? You’d think by now that people would take better precautions when meeting people in the real world.

Craigslist ad leads to bust in Baldwin:
37-year-old Tracey George of Baldwin Twp., Minnesota was arrested on prostitution charges after a “concerned citizen” tipped off police to a craigslist ad for “erotic messages” . I’m pretty sure they meant massages since she was arrested on prostitution charges. You gotta love small town news.

Police: Man Used Craigslist To Sell Cars With Altered Odometers:
26-year-old Ricky Ephrem of Gresham, Oregon was arrested for selling a car on craigslist that had its odometer turned back at least 100,000 miles.

He was trying to sell a similar car when police arrested him.

I guess he never heard of Carfax.

Tigard man in court accused of Craigslist rapes:
In one of the posts I made about accused craigslist rapist Ronald M. Leistiko a commenter asked what kind of ad was Leistiko posting to lure these women to his house.

According to the article he wasn’t posting ads but responding to ads…

Leistiko allegedly answered ads on Craigslist along with other Internet sites, which offered services such as lingerie modeling and escort service.

That makes this case even more disturbing since one of his victims was 14.

Man Accused of Pimping His Child Support:
I can’t do the original article any justice but let me give you a brief rundown. According to investigators in Everett, Washington some dude was pimping out women by coercion to pay his baby mamas child support, all eight of them.

The story is tragic and darkly funny at the same time.

Read the article to get the full brunt of it.