October 2009

Tampa police arrest 4 in Craigslist prostitution sting:

I’m actually tired of posting these stories. However once again it shows that craigslist’s new guidelines to keep prostitution out are as effective as the proverbial screen door on the submarine.

Naval recruiter sentenced to 15 years in sex sting:

Naval recruiter Shane Allan Childers, 32, was sentenced this past week in federal court for his part in a child prostitution sting.

Childers responded to a craigslist ad where someone was offering an 11-year-old girl for sex. Luckily the ad was actually placed by law enforcement.

Childers pleaded guilty in July and was sentenced to 15 years without parole.

Not a bad sentence but he’ll be out at the age of 47 and what do you think the odds will be then that he’ll re-offend?

Transvestite busted after “best of both worlds” posting:

My favorite police department in the country has made the news once again. Police in Punta Gorda, Florida arrested one 48-year-old Lorilorenzo Martinez (pictured) for being an alleged craigslist hooker. Martinez, aka Loretta Seguinot, is a transvestite. You know, he does not make an attractive woman but if I saw that mugshot without knowing I would have thought it was a woman.

The catch to this story is when I normally post about tranny hookers being busted they’re usually posing as women. Mr./Ms. Martinez here was very open in his alleged craigslist ad.

That’s what the world needs more of…sort of. Honest transvestite hookers. I just wish they would pick a different profession.

Judge: Craigslist not liable for prostitution ads:

The lawsuit filed against craigslist by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has been dismissed by a U.S. District Judge. If you’ll recall Sheriff Dart filed a highly publicized lawsuit against craigslist for their thinly veiled ads for prostitution. At onr point Sheriff Dart called craigslist the biggest pimp in the country. I can’t say I disagree.

What I also can’t disagree with is the dismissal of the suit. In a perfect world craigslist would be held responsible for all the crime that happens within their pages but this world is far from perfect. In reality this suit was an attempt by the Cook County Sheriffs Department to put pressure on craigslist to do something about the prostitution on their site. In a way it kind of worked because shortly after the suit was filed craiglsist put new measures in place to limit the number of prostitution ads on their site. The new measures were largely ineffective though.

However in typical smug fashion craigslist El Jefe Jim Buckmaster posted on the official craigslist blog about the suit being dismissed. Buckmaster’s post is basically him doing the victory dance over the corpse of the lawsuit. You’ll notice not once does Buckmaster say something about how he’s committed to removing prostitution and other crime from craigslist. But even if he did I wouldn’t believe it until he does something that’s actually effective in limiting crime on his site.

Women Accused Of Selling Sex On Craigslist:

Craigslist crackdown results in prostitution charges for seven in Genesee County:

From left to right is Bakir McKinney, Christine Barnes, Katherine Shaler, Heather Lawson, and Sarah Briggs. They’ve all been busted in Genesee County, Michigan for allegedly being craigslist hookers. The Genesee County Sheriff’s Department picked them all out of the ‘adult services’ section of craigslist. The section that craigslist said was only for ‘legitimate’ adult businesses. The same section where their mystery requirements are supposed to keep out illegal activity. Again it’s obviously not working.

Let’s hear from Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell…

“Craigslist is pimp,” Pickell said. “We’re going to make contact with the people on Craigslist and see if we can get them to cease and desist.”

Good luck with that. Larger and more prominent law enforcement agencies have tried and craigslist has yet to yield.

Calhoun officers bust Craigslist prostitution ring:

Police in the town of Calhoun, Georgia busted some alleged craigslist hookers and pimps operating in their area.

Arrested were Shannon Marie Richey, 34, Amber Nicole Gaston, 27, Tara Jamison Howard, 34, Corrie Deantre Gillispie, 35,  and Mark Taylor Farmer, 48.

This shows that even small town operations are getting around craigslist’s mystery guidelines for posting ‘adult’ ads on their site.

If these ads are being posted in the casual encounters section rather than the adult services section then maybe craigslist needs to clamp down on that section as well.