July 2008

Temp accused of running prostitution biz:

David Baker of New Jersey was arrested for running a craigslist prostitution ring while on temp assignments.

Johns would be referred to Somerset Veterinary Group. Why he chose a vet clinic as a front is beyond me. Anyway, when an undercover cop was there he was propositioned by 50-year-old Cathy Rosania.

My favorite part of the story is that the operation was named “Operation Net-Vet Harlot”. That may be the most awesome prostitution sting name yet. Leave it to the boys in the Garden state.

Family Of Nine Loses Savings Because Of Craigslist Rental Scam:

Another family has been taken by the craigslist rental scam. An family from Peoria, Arizona was new to the area and found a rental home on craigslist that was too good to be true. As expected it was too good to be true.

They met a couple who called themselves Jim and Jaime Williams who they forked over $1500 to.

Then when the family tried to move in they met the actual owner. Luckily the real owners worked something out with the family to let them stay there.

As far as the “Williamses” go…

Peoria Arizona police are asking for the public’s help in looking for the scam artists responsible. They are described as “a short heavyset woman and a man with crooked teeth and a heart tattooed on one hand. They were last seen driving a white Chevy Blazer.”

The article recommends checking with the county first to see who actually owns a rental property.

Craigslist Leads to Assault Arrest:

Jacksonville, Florida police were conducting a sting at the residence of a craigslist hooker. Officer 1 goes into the apartment undercover and makes the exchange. Officer 2 then knocks on the door and identifies himself as police. That’s when Clinton Willie Dove burst out of the closet brandishing a knife. Officer 1 then identifies himself as police while Officer 2 breaks down the door.

That fool is lucky he didn’t get his dumb ass shot.

THE ‘CRAIGSLIST SERIAL RAPIST’: A TIMELINE:

This is an article from the Washington Post that shows the timeline in the investigation into craigslist rapist Mark Humpheries.

What I find interesting is that the police seemed to have Humpheries as a suspect going back to May. I’d be interested to know why they couldn’t close in on him before July.

Fairfax Co. police arrest suspect in rental scam:

31-year-old Richard Hiner of Catlett, Va. has been arrested for running a real estate scam on craigslist.

It was your typical scam. Hiner would put ads on craigslist for properties he didn’t own. Then he’d collect ‘rent deposits’ from people on the properties he didn’t own.

Alleged prostitute arrested for holding customer at gunpoint:

18-year-old Liberty Henegan of Oakland, California was arrested for holding a man at gunpoint.

It seems the man responded to her craigslist ad for her services and arranged to meet her on his way to work. I can only imagine what kind of job the gentleman has.

They argued over the price when Henegan held the man at gunpoint in her apartment. Luckily Henegan’s boyfriend came home and took the gun from her.

Henegan was arrested and had her child taken away from her by CPS.

I guess the customer and her child couldn’t be considered victims could they?

Craigslist Crimes and Misdemeanors:

This is a photo slideshow from the late Court TV about some of the crimes that happened through craigslist.

Some you may be familiar with, others you may not.

Thanks to Darnell for the link.

‘Puppies R Dead’ :

In Novia Scotia Gail Benoit is being investigated by the SPCA for selling dying puppies to people through the website Kijiji.

Benoit was already facing animal cruelty charges from another incident.

In the most recent incident Benoit is accused of selling dying puppies out of a van that says “Puppies R Us”. Because as we all know all reputable sales come out of a van.

Benoit claims she is going to reimburse the people whose puppies died within days after the sales but she’s waiting to be reimbursed from the ‘breeder’ who sold her the bad puppies.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for your money people.

Sex for sale on Craigslist:

I wonder how long it took them to come up with that headline.

Anyway, 47-year old Robert Frisco and 23-year old Heather Barber of East Haven, Connecticut were arrested for running a craigslist prostitution ring. One of their hookers was a 16-year-old girl.

The 16-year-old was also arrested because as it turned out she allegedly was helping Frisco and Barber run the business.

Craigslist hands over the name of a villain who didn’t feel like going to the Oscars:

An L.A. court has ruled that craigslist has to reveal the identity of person who was trying to sell Oscar tickets on eBay for $2500 a pop.

I could be all snarky and sarcastic about it but the CNet article does a much better job of it.

However if anyone is interested I have a cat named Oscar and for $2500 I’ll let you watch him crap in the yard.

Suspected Craigslist Rapist Shoots Self, Police Say:

Back in February I posted about the alleged Maryland craigslist serial rapist.

A person police believe to be that rapist shot himself in the head yesterday in Hyattsville, Maryland, Police believe that 33-year-old Mark Antonio Humphries is the person who has used craigslist in the past to rape at least 9 women, most of who were escorts.

Humphries shot himself in the head when police approached the apartment he was hiding in. Unfortunately he survived the shooting. Scratch that he didn’t survive.

Now that I think about it wouldn’t those escorts who were raped be considered victims?

I got an e-mail yesterday from a reader by the name of Jon. He had developed a website that basically was the craigslist vigilante posse I’ve been wanting to organize. It’s goal was to flag the obvious illegal ads in the erotic services section of craigslist.

According to Jon the site was making good progress in at least one major city that has a problem with craigslist prostitution. A large number of ads for illegal services had been removed. This is exactly the kind of thing that Jim Buckmaster himself is supposedly happening on craigslist to curb illegal activity. What he doesn’t tell you is that flagging ads just leads to more criminal activity.

Somehow the denizens of the erotic services section were able to obtain Jon’s personal information and were able to use it into harassing Jon to take down his site.

Basically, they were calling and saying I needed to mind my own business and implied that things were just getting started. They also posted a bunch of CL ads with my phone number for free stuff at my house and used my email to sign me up for adult services online. I wasn’t too worried until they started calling my wife and using expletives and breathing heavy. I sent a complaint to CL, have not heard back from them. All the calls came in blocked, so I have no phone numbers or email for these people either. I’m sure CL could find out who posted the bogus ads, but I am not going to hold my breath that they will want to help me.

Of course not. That would cut into their revenue stream. craigslist says it makes no money off of it’s erotic services section but that’s just not true. The erotic services section brings in cubic assloads of traffic to the site and some of them are employers who use the site to post job ads which is where craigslist makes their money.

So I know that some craigslist employees read this site. How about helping Jon out with these creeps. If you contact me I’ll be more than happy to put you in touch with him and I’ll keep it confidential.

Like Jon, I’m not holding my breath either that they’ll get back to me.

Police nab 16 in prostitution sting:

Police in Lenexa, Kansas arrested 16 johns in a craigslist hooker sting. That’s pretty much it. No further details.

Teen falls victim to Internet harassment:

This is an article about a teenage girl from Las Vegas who shared too much personal information about herself on the internet. Then some scummy 23-year-old guy used it to post an ad on craigslist saying how much she likes kinky sex.

It’s too much teenage drama for me to recap. Just read it as a cautionary tale on why you shouldn’t post your personal info on the internet.

In the not quite a year I’ve been doing this site one of the most common questions I get is “My (insert name of item here) has been stolen and placed on craigslist. What do I do?” That answer is a very simple one. Call your local police and enlist their help.

I know there have been stories on here where citizens have taken matters into their own hands and have been successful in getting their stuff back but I do not recommend that. It only takes a split second for a situation like that to turn into a tragic one.

Please leave law enforcement in the hands of professionals.