June 2008

Child prostitutes sell themselves on Craigslist:

This is the best article yet that I’ve read on the problem of child prostitution on craigslist. I’m not going to quote the meat of the article because this is one of those articles that needs to be read in its entirety.

However I will quote a part where craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster thinks he’s part of the solution instead of part of the problem…

Craigslist executives said they abhor the fact that their site is being used for child prostitution but believe that the problem could be harder to track if they removed the category.

“It would be a bigger problem if we removed that category and had those ads spread throughout the site,” said Jim Buckmaster, chief executive officer of Craigslist.

Really Jim? If you shut down the erotic services section of craigslist where would these ads go? Used cars? Furniture? Pets? Real Estate? You mean the places where people who don’t use hookers would actually see the ads and actually flag them? Horrors, we can’t have that now can we Jim?

Prostitution and child prostitution is on the rise because of craigslist. Yes there are other sites out there that cater to this kind of depravity but in my opinion craigslist is the #1 offender. What’s it going to take Jim before you eliminate the erotic services section? I mean there have already been rapes, robberies, and shootings.

For a website that flaunts how socially responsible it is it doesn’t seem to be putting its words into action.

Three ID residents charged in underage sex case:

36-year-old Colby Watson, his girlfriend 23-year-old Lindsey J. McKeehan, and 50-year-old Douglas A. Winberry, all from Idaho, have been arrested on charges of having sex with a girl under the age of 16 and for prostituting her out on craigslist.

Police said they received a tip on June 19 that Winberry had pictures of the girl in various sexual poses. A search of his home produced evidence he had sex with the girl and that he advertised her for prostitution on Craigslist, police said.

The investigation led to photo and video evidence of Watson and McKeehan engaging in sexual acts with the girl, and evidence that they also advertised the girl on Craigslist for prostitution, police said.

Alas no mugshots. I’d be curious to see what this freakshow looked like. I bet it wasn’t pretty.

So a girl under 16 is molested, photographed, and pimped out yet some people would like you to believe that she’s not a victim.

Donelson man who advertised services on Craigslist arrested for prostitution:

41-year-old James Donoho of Donelson, Tenn. was arrested on prostitution charges after police discovered his ad on craigslist for erotic massage.

He was busted in the usual way. However when police arrested him he confessed to police that he’s HIV positive.

Now if he’s infected anyone through his ‘massages’ those people wouldn’t be victims would they?

Sex Sold on Craigslist:

This may just be the worst researched article ever.

Anyway police in Memphis arrested Cynthia Ehrlich, Leroy Williams, and two others in a craigslist hooker sting. Ehrlich and Williams were running a hooker ring out of their house.

However the article states that the police were tipped off by craigslist. I find that very hard to believe. Especially considering that when asked for a response craigslist never got back to the reporter.

Typical.

Pol calls for Craigslist prostitution bust:

A New York City politician has called on the NYPD to crack down on craigslist’s erotic services section. City Councilman Eric Gioia called a press conference yesterday likening craigslist to the wild west.

What used to happen on seedy street corners and brothels has moved to the Internet,”

Gioia and his staff conducted an investigation of the top 100 listings on the erotic services section for about three weeks and found that 85 percent of the ads seemed to be advertising illicit activities. The councilman said some of the ads used vague wording to offer paid sexual acts, such as “companionship” for “a generous donation.”

“They’re pretty obvious,” Gioia said. “It’s high time that law enforcement in New York take a hard look at what’s happening.”

The NYPD had no response and craigslist had their usual ‘we’re doing everything to help law enforcement except taking the erotic services section down’ excuse…

A Craigslist spokeswoman said the site recently implemented new measures that reduced the number of erotic services ads by 80 percent, and other improvements have eliminated a high percentage of other objectionable content.

“The misuse of Craigslist for illegal purposes is completely unacceptable to us and we are continuously devising new means of detecting and blocking such activity,” spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best said in an e-mailed statement.

Again, if it was so unacceptable they’d do away with the section.