August 2008

Craigslist Becomes Home For Copper Thieves:

This article basically states that since scrap copper selling is so regulated copper thieves are turning to craigslist. Because as we all know craigslist doesn’t regulate crap.

Sex ads on Denver Craigslist spike with Democrats’ arrival:

Nine arrested for prostitution:

I originally posted about the WEB Task Force here and they’ve netted 9 this time on various craigslist hooker stings.

Those arrested were…

The females arrested for engaging in sexual conduct for a fee were Michell Davey, 36, Jennifer Schaaf, 22, Chenchi Lin, and Emily Poland.

The males arrested for paying a fee for sexual conduct were Deric Lipski, 35, Mark Snow, 53, Jeffrey Wentworth, 36, and John Dietel, 42, of Seekonk.

Harold Conille, 26, was arrested for deriving support from prostitution.

That means he’s a pimp.

Some of the suspects also had outstanding warrants.

Des Moines woman’s purchase of car through craigslist goes awry:

A woman from Des Moines, Iowa paid someone on craigslist $5560 for a 2005 Acura but the car was not delivered as promised. I can’t tell if she paid for the car and it was never delivered or something else happened.

Police say new rental scam being used in Reno area:

We have new scammer names to add to the list.

This time it’s “Jane Duncan” and “Gary Duncan” who are posing as the usual missionaries moving to West Africa. According to this article they are targeting craigslist in the Reno, Nevada area posting ads for rental properties that are below normal rent and as usual don’t even belong to them.

Be aware.

Prostitution arrest at Dedham motel:

Police in Dedham Mass. arrested Heather M. Morgan of Foxborough after seeing her ad on craigslist.

And now it’s time for the victim test…

Morgan was charged with offering sexual conduct for a fee, and three charges for possession of class A, B and C substances after detectives found Percocet, Xanax and heroin in her hotel room, Nedder said.

“She said that she allegedly got the (two bags) of heroin from the officer … but after being informed that he was an undercover police detective, she started to sob and admitted that the drugs and syringes were hers,” Nedder said.

Hooking for heroin, tell me she’s not a victim.

Police: Internet ad leads to arrest in prostitution sting:

32-year-old Candace Brown of Beckley, West Virginia was arrested for being a craigslist hooker after police received an anonymous tip.

The next night on an unrelated sting they arrested johns Steven Lee Workman, 35, and Timothy Wayne Lilly, 24.

Too-good-to-be-true rentals featured on Craigslist are usually just that:

Another one of our hall of shame scammers has popped up in the news again. I previously posted about Richard Sunny here. At that time he was scamming would be renters out of their money in Philadelphia. Now he seems to be plying his West African trade in the Seattle area.

It’s the usual bad English Christian missionary that just left for Africa scam.

‘Online’ prostitute arrested in Port Huron:

A ‘concerned citizen’ in Port Huron, Michigan tipped off police to a 19-year-old hooker on craigslist.

Police set up a meeting at a local motel and arrested her.

ONLINE DATE WITH DEATH:

Over at MyCrimeSpace there’s a running joke that the hot girl on MySpace doesn’t really want you. Over there I’ve posted more than a few stories abiut guys who go to meet hot girls that they met on MySpace only to be robbed. It seems that rule now applies to craigslist too.

24-year-old Daniel Brandtof New York City went to a Coney Island apartment to meet what he thought was going to be a woman he met on craigslist. Instead Brandt was shot in the head and two men ran off. Brandt later died at the hospital.

Police say they know who the suspects are and are awaiting search warrants.

Thanks to Gothamist.

I got an e-mail over the weekend from a professional escort who we’ll call Mary. She pointed me in the direction of archive.org and their Wayback Machine. Now I was familiar with the Wayback Machine but I never thought to run craigslist through it until now.

Mary says that craigslist has been building their fame off the backs of hookers since almost the beginning but they don’t dare tell the public how long they’ve been doing it.

Thanks to Mary’s tip I went through the Wayback Machine and the earliest I found that craigslist had the erotic services section listed on the front page was October 29, 2002. So for most of craigslist’s life they’ve been using prostitution to attract users. If anything craigslist should give the prostitutes a cut. Also we now have a date to ‘celebrate’ the day that craigslist started dallying in child prostitution and human trafficking.

Getting back to Mary she says that craigslist has basically used the women to build their site and now they act like they have no clue of what’s going on. Mary also says that she has been harassed and stalked by craigslist users in the past and that craigslist does nothing to protect its users. She says she has posted warnings about stalkers and lost clients because of it so basically like I’ve been saying it’s the inmates who are running the asylum at craigslist. Mary finds it ironic that the stalkers get the last say since craigslist was built on the backs of hookers.

Do I think that Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster are pimps? Not in the least. Pimps at least pay their girls.

Police arrest girl allegedly selling sex on Craigslist:

Police in Bakersfield, California arrested a 15-year-old girl this past week for prostituting herself on craigslist. The ad she placed claimed that she was an adult.

A child prostitute being arrested is a rarity. I wonder if she was arrested because she’s protecting her pimp. The article gives the impression that she was working on her own though.

Whatever her story is I’m sure she didn’t choose to get into that lifestyle on a whim.

Craigslist the new marketplace for stolen goods:

Check out the video report behind the link from Oregon TV station KDRV.

It just amazes me how regulated pawn shops are but yet craigslist isn’t.

Man arrested for selling phony cable service:

This is a new twist on an old crime.

Police in Windsor, Ontario have arrested a man for selling illegal cable boxes and services on the craigslist competitor Kijiji.

This has been going on since the birth of cable and it’s also the reason why your cable bill is so high.

I got the following anonymous e-mail yesterday.

WHY YOU NEED TO SINGLE OUT CRAIGSLIST AS THE WORLDS BIGGEST CRIME PLAYGROUND IM NOT SURE BUT YOU NEED TO GET A GRIP ON REALITY. YOU WANNA BE A VIGILANT Y COME ON DOWN TO THE HOOD. CLEAN THAT UP WITH ALL THAT ENERGY. oh and if you are female and are married…SCREW your husband once in awhile that will keep him off craigslist.

It sounds like someone doesn’t like the work I do. I’m guessing either a hooker or someone who uses craigslist to sell stolen goods. First off I’m not a vigialnte. I’m just a guy with a website and an opinion. Secondly why should I clean up the hood? Why can’t the hood clean itself up? And lastly I’m male and I don’t need some skank on craigslist to get my rocks off.

Thank you and have a nice day.