April 2008

Mother, Son Accused Of Pimping 15-Year Old Girl. Girl Allegedly Pimped Out To More Than 1200 Men:
37-year-old Lavern Vaughn and her son, 20-year-old Lavor Carter, of Vallejo, California have been arrested for pimping out a 15-year-old girl. The pair posted almost 700 ads on craigslist pimping the girl out in Northern California.

The victim couldn’t just leave either…

The federal indictment alleges carter would whip her with a belt and plastic rod, burn her with a lighter, or strike her. She reportedly tried to leave Carter on multiple occasions, but he told her that if she left, she would not leave alive.

In the same indictment, Carter allegedly duct taped the minor to a chair inside an apartment and left her there for 12 hours. Other accusations include pouring boiling water on her leg and chest, and locking her in a garage all night long.

If this story couldn’t be any sicker read what the suspects’ relative said when confronted by the media…

We asked Gail Vaughn, mother and grandmother of the woman and young man arrested by FBI agents, if they were really pimping out a young girl. “No,” she said. “The girl they’re accused of pimping [isn't] a kid. She’s 16 and has a two-year old daughter.”

But she’s still a minor under the law. “Yeah, but we didn’t know that.”

Who the hell doesn’t know that minors are under 18 and why is that supposed to make a difference?

And that’s right I said victim. You can take your victimless crime and shove it.

Woman Arrested For Craigslist Prostitution:
That lovely vision at right is 22-year-old Patricia Lewis of Omaha, Nebraska. She was arrested for prostitution after police saw her craigslist ad for “exclusive full service”. She was asking $175 an hour.

I don’t know which is worse the bad dye job or the neck tattoo.

Craigslist ads lead to prostitution sting:
Police in Wichia have arrested 8 in a craigslist prostitution sting ranging in ages from 22 to 37. It tickles me that one of the charges is ’sodomy for hire’. Sounds like the name of a bad porno.

Anyway I wanted to mention something about this quote…

Police said the online site did not break any laws _ it was how the suspects were using the site that constituted illegal activity.

Which I don’t disagree with but if craigslist got rid of their erotic services section this would be less of an issue.

Craigslist scam targets teachers:
Another variation of the wire fraud scam comes to us today from Bakersfield, California that is targeting teachers.

An ad is placed from out of state asking for tutoring help for a child saying that child will be in town for a few days and in this case offering $400. When the teacher or whomever replies to the add is sent a $1500 check and asked to wire back $1100.

Big ‘ol red flag right there.

Never wire anything. Local only and cash only if at all.

Ousted OC Sex Club Selling Used Beds, 26 Mattresses On Craigslist:
In what can only be called the most disgusting legitimate sale on craigslist a California swingers club is selling their mattresses on craigslist.

Club Amnesty in Orange County was closed down due to fire code violations now everything must go including a 600 lb icemaker and 26 foam mattresses.

Can you imagine what those mattresses must look like under blacklight?

I got an e-mail from someone calling themself PlayerPickle who is claiming that one of the infamous Rinaggio clan is attempting the same scams on the Fort McMurray Kijiji site. So be forewarned Albertians.

Eagan couple’s sex ads on craigslist were a setup for ID theft:
25-year-old Eric Christopher Thorsen and 30-year-old Amy Ruth Bergquist put the craigslist personals section to the most creative use yet. They would advertise as a couple looking for a sex partner. When some poor schnook would respond to their add. Thorsen and Bergquist would use the opportunity to steal their victim’s identity. Read the article for one such alcohol fueled, little head thinking sap.

Remember guys, the craigslist three way is a lie.

Four arrested in pimping, prostitution bust at Antioch motel:
Detectives in Antioch, California recently made arrests in a craigslist prostitution sting. During the investigation they found a 17-year-old runaway girl who was advertising in craigslist that was living with a 29-year-old registered sex offender. The sex offender, Glen Banks, was taken into custody for violating his probation.

Also arrested was 22-year-old Savanna Lopez, who was advertising of SFRedbook, and her alleged pimp 25-year-old Joseph Thomas.

A 17-year-old hooker living with a sex offender. Please tell me again how this is a victimless crime.

I received other comment about the alleged Rinaggio family. Infamous on this site for being the pseudo-surname of some craigslist real estate scammers. This time the comment comes to us from Julio from Spain…

Hello
I am writing from Spain and guess what? there is a Tom Rinnagio (although he/she has a problem as when he/she gave me this name, at the end of it signed as Larry…) offering an apartment in Barcelona for a price never seen in this city. Well, I knew it was scam but decided to look up in internet for this surname and found this page, so well, I guess this could be the same bugger. Well if this can help anyone, I’ll be glad. or at least you can have a laugh with his email cause it’s just like Lindsay mentioned in this same page on March 15.
The rent is 450 € per month with a damage deposit of 250 € and that include the utilities. I am looking for responsible tenants that is going to take care of the apt as if were is own and will be willing to make the apt clean as we left it. Actually my reason for wanting to rent the apt is because i was transfered by my company to our newly opened branch in West Africa Nigeria where i am currently residing with my family and won’t be coming to the apt , and leaving the apt for that long without cleaning or someone taking care of it is very bad so i decided to rent it out for a short or long term lease depending on the person who wants to rent it. So since i will not be around to show the the apt i will like you to drive down there to take a look at the exterior of the apt and for the interior i will email you the pictures for you to see how wonderful it looks. I am with the keys and the necessary document meant for the house and the reason is that i tried to find an agent to help me handle the rent but couldn’t see a trustworthy agent that was why i decided to come along with the key’s and documents and handle the rent myself. I will like you to get back to me on how you can keep my house clean if i should rent it out to you and your experience with renting an apt.

I look forward to hearing from you and if am satisfied and convinced by your explanation then i would send the rental application form to fill out and discuss on how to get the apt for rent, also i will like to know when you are ready to rent the apt because the apt is available now.

and in the next one I received sent the application form asking for references, my employers address and phone number!!. The following is what he/she also wrote
Thanks for getting back to me. Well the apt is available as we speak now and will be available for rent for as lonf as you want because my family and i will be living here in Nigeria for a very long time so the apt will definatelt be availavle for as long as you want to rent it. Well i have agreed to rent the apartment to you, but before we proceed further i want you to know that as a new tenant you will have to fill the rental application form below, then after you have filled it and email it back to me then we will discuss more on how you will be getting the rental fee across to me and how i will get the apt key’s and documents shipped directly to you. i want you to look at it carefully and if you really would want to proceed with the rent and you are quiet sure of taking very good care of my apt, you can fill it and have it emailed back to me, once i have received it, then we can proceed to the nextstep.

but, yes, this fellow has problems with his name…
see this part of the mail

My name is Larry Rinaggio. My current in Nigeria is 100 Queens Drive, Mushin, Lagos 23401 Nigeria.
and the day before…

Thanks for your response and interest in my apartment,my name is Tom Rinaggio am 43 years with my wife and a lovely daughter. The house is still available for rent starting from now.

well at least I’m having a good laugh, but I would like to find a way so the authorities could get hold of him but these seems rather difficult as even if I report to the police here in Spain, for when they move, it will be next century… however I will try

Remember, if you come across the Rinaggios or any other scammer send it in using the contact form. It may just help someone from being scammed.

Scammers Target Craigslist Realtor:
This is a story about Lexington, Kentcuky realtor Gwen Mathews. She’s a real realtor. Someone from Nigeria has been posing as her on craigslist ‘renting out’ her properties. Of course the fake Gwen Matthews asks people to wire money which should be a dead giveaway to a scam.

The real Gwen Matthews has posted the following alert on craigslist…

There are some ads posted by gwenmathews74@yahoo.com, they are a scammer. They will ask you to wire money and mail you the keys. This is a new scam where people will list houses that are not actually for rent and that they do not own and request you to wire money to them in exchange for the keys.

The article also makes a great point that scammers and criminals like this on craigslist may drive people back to newspaper classifieds.

Craigslist, as usual, did not comment on the article.

Technology helps fuel ‘pimping’ of young girls:
This is a very powerful article about a case of child prostitution in the Bay Area that was in part facilitated by craigslist.

I would do the story and its author a great injustice if I tried to either quote or summarize the story. That’s how good I think it is.

For those of you who think that child prostitution is not happening on craigslist you need to read this article.

And again for those of you that think prostitution is a victimless crime you need to read this article.

Bozeman residents fall victim to Internet scams:
You can’t even escape craigslist scammers in Big Sky country.

Residents of Bozeman, Montana have lately fallen prey to two of the standard craigslist scams. The fake house for rent and the over paid check/wire me back the money scam.

Bozeman residents who have been scammed are asked to contact the Bozeman Police.

Anoka County reels in stolen ice-fishing gear:
Two teens were arrested in Anoka County, Minnesota after trying to sell some stolen fishing gear on craigslist. Not just any fishing gear though. It was $20,000 worth of custom made fishing gear. The teens had stolen the items from a hardcore ice fisherman then tried to sell the stuff on craigslist because where else does anonymity allow you to sell stolen goods? However anonymity can work both ways because the buyer was an Anoka County investigator who was tipped off by the gear’s actual owner.

I’ll leave all the fishing jokes to the ‘journalists’.

Police use craigslist to make prostitution arrests:
A joint operation between the police departments of Rye Brook, Rye, Greenburgh and Elmsford, have netter 6 johns in a craigslist sting. Police placed a phony escort ad on craigslist then arrested potential customers at a hotel in Rye.

Those arrested were John W. Thornbald, 38, Benjamin J. Hoffhine, 32, Mithila P. Gunaratna, 62, Alan J. Strozza, 24, John J. Bria, 53, and Aniruddhar Mahale, 37.

Woman charged in Craigslist hit man case enters guilty pleas:
Ann Marie Linscott has pleaded guilty to attempting to hire a hitman on craigslist. If you’ll recall the Michigan woman wanted a hitman to kill the wife of a California man she had an affair with.

She’s looking at 30 years on federal charges.