May 2010

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California congresswoman urges craigslist to shut down adult services

May 28, 2010 in Craigslist, Prostitution/Human Trafficking by Trench Reynolds | 1 comment

Rep. Speier asks Craigslist to delete adult services section:

U.S. Representative Jackie Speier, a Democrat who represents California’s 12th congressional district, has urged craigslist to remove the adult services section or possibly face congressional action.

“I strongly urge you to eliminate this section from your Web site,” Speier said in a letter addressed to Craigslist Chief Executive Officer Jim Buckmaster. “Now is a time to set a renewed example of zero tolerance and 100 percent vigilance.”

Speier also said she will ask U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello to help San Francisco’s Craigslist in “identifying additional methods that you may use to avoid the facilitation of prostitution and human trafficking.”

And Speier also said she was calling the House Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing on “how Web sites such as yours and others are being used to facilitate criminal activity.”

Jimmy B, craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster took his sweet time in responding but eventually did…

“I’m confident you will soon realize shutting down portions of Craigslist is no answer, and in fact would be a big step in the wrong direction with respect to the very issues you have raised,” Buckmaster wrote.

“Trafficking and child exploitation are despicable, and while exceedingly rare on Craigslist, any ad facilitating crime is utterly unacceptable, and we work tirelessly with law enforcement to ensure any such victim receives the assistance they deserve and anyone responsible is prosecuted.”

“With 50 million Americans engaging in billions of human interactions each month, the overwhelming majority of which are well-intentioned, the incidence of crime on Craigslist is exceptionally low. However, our tolerance for crime is zero, and we welcome suggestions from US Attorney Russoneillo, and any other concerned party, for further preventing misuse.”

Sorry, I can’t read anything that Jimmy B says without seeing this picture…

If I had photoshop skills I would put Jimmy’s head on Bob’s body.

Anyway I’ve never seen a bigger pack of lies. Human trafficking and child prostitution are not exceedingly rare on craigslist as it happens every day. The only time that craigslist works with law enforcement is after a crime has been committed. They are not active in stopping trafficking but they are only reactive. And if their tolerance for crime really was zero not only would they remove adult services but they would remove casual encounters as well.

And not to flog a deceased equine but while Rep. Speier’s intentions are good she’s not going far enough as she should also be looking to take action against the Village Voice Media owned Backpage as well.

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craigslist cruiser arrested in Easley, SC

May 28, 2010 in Craigslist, Predators by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Police: Man Used Craigslist To Solicit Sex At Library:

If you’re planning on using the mens room at the Easley, South Carolina public library you may want to take some hand sanitizer with you as it seems to be a popular attraction for the craigslist cruisers.

Police there arrested one 46-year-old James Michael Stewart after he allegedly posted an ad seeking anonymous sex in the library’s rest room.

There were at least 4 other ads seeking the same in the same location. Luckily the article also provides a picture of one of the ads showing that it was in fact posted in the casual encounters section.

Whod’a thunk it?

Look if you want to have anonymous gay or straight sex that’s your prerogative but keep it away from places that other people have to use. Ick.

For more crime stories in the Greenville, SC area check out Rob Taylor’s Greenville Dragnet.

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Missing Long Island craigslist prostitute was killed

May 28, 2010 in Craigslist, Killers by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Medford Man Pleads Not Guilty to Missing Woman’s Murder:

Another body is left in craigslist’s wake.

26-year-old Jennifer Papain of North Patchogue, New York was a craigslist prostitute who was allegedly killed by Chad Johnson of Medford, NY. Not the guy from the Bengals.

Anyway Johnson is accused of hiring Papain off of craigslist paying her for sex then strangling her to death when he wanted his money back.

Papain had been missing since March and Johnson is said to have led police to an area near the LIE where he left her in a shallow grave.

Yet craigslist still refuses to shut down the ‘adult services’ section that is allegedly for legitimate adult businesses.

And why no national media onslaught on this just the most recent murder tied to craigslist?

I think we all know why.

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17-year-old twins pimp out teens on Backpage

May 28, 2010 in Backpage, Prostitution/Human Trafficking by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Dolton teens accused of human trafficking:

If you thought the 18 and 19-year-old girls from Phoenix were the youngest Backpage human traffickers guess again.

Twin 17-year-old brothers, Myrelle Lockett and Tyrelle Lockett, of Dolton, Illinois have been arrested for forcing underage girls into prostitution on the Village Voice Media owned Backpage.com.

And once again Village Voice Media is not called on the carpet like craigslist is by either the media or politicians.

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Teacher indicted for trolling craigslist for child sex

May 26, 2010 in Craigslist, Predators by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Craigslist child sex ads, e-mails allegedly sent by Woodland teacher released:

How in the blue hell did I not hear about this one?

43-year-old Christopher Tomsett is a middle school teacher in Northern California. He’s also been indicted, and pleaded not guilty to, federal child porn charges. It seems that the good teacher tried to solicit child sex on craigslist of all places.

Just recently the details of some of those ads and e-mails have been released.

I’m 5’11″ – 185 lbs looking for a smooth young boy to play with. I’m a top and prefer a smooth smaller guy – any race. Can travel or host. LTR prefered, but a boy to mess around with is cool too. The younger the better.

I’m 5’11″ and 190 pounds looking for a smaller smooth bottom boy to use. You must be young (the younger the better) and smooth – hairy is a turn-off for me. All races cool. Into … nude wrestling, maybe kink, but mostly into aggressive play with a young guy. Can host or travel. Send stats and age as a minimum for any chance of a response. Don’t ask for a pic if you don’t send one yourself. If you’re not young, no response. Sounds picky but I’m tired of 45 year-olds telling me they’re a boy.

I’m 5’11″ and 190 pounds looking for a smaller smooth submissive boy – the younger the better. Into almost anything you can think of, from laying naked in bed all day … and kink. Dad/son, coach/jock, or paperboy scenes possible, but in the end I just want a boy who wants a dad to take charge and have fun. Send age/stats and what you’re looking for. Prefer under 21 unless you’re young looking and smooth.

And those are the tame ones.

Investigators also allegedly found over 11,000 child porn files on his computer but let’s go back to the ads for a second.

I can almost guarantee that these ads were in the casual encounters section. Once again I have to ask where was the highly touted community policing? Why were the ads not pulled? It’s pretty obvious what these ads were soliciting and I can only imagine what the more explicit ones said.

Shut it down Jim. Casual encounters serves no real purpose.

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Robert Hughes takes advantage of gay men on craigslist

May 26, 2010 in Craigslist, Robbery by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Man ends Craigslist date naked, robbed in Levy County:

That shiny bundle of sunshine over there is 20-year-old Robert Edward Hughes of Bronson, Florida. He’s accused of robbing a man at gunpoint who was looking for ‘companionship’ on craigslist. We’ll get to that in a moment.

The victim met Hughes in a parking lot and got into his van. Hughes then drove to a desolate area. Hughes forced the man to strip down to his shoes and took his money.

Police were able to track down Hughes because he used in his own phone to call the victim.

Ok, Hughes is a scumbag for victimizing gay men on craigslist but let’s call this what it is. The victim was cruising for anonymous sex on craigslist probably in the casual encounters section. If you are using craigslist for anonymous sex you are setting yourself up for robbery or rape or even death.

How many crimes like this have gone unreported because the victim was too embarrassed to come forward?

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Robert Wolpert solicits parents for child sex on craigslist

May 22, 2010 in Craigslist, Predators by Trench Reynolds | 2 comments

Craigslist posting leads to child sex solicitation arrest:

Rocky Raccoon over there is 31-year-old Robert Wolpert of Hernando County, Florida.

He’s been arrested for allegedly soliciting a parent for sex from a child on craigslist. Not once but 16 counts of soliciting a parent for the purpose of having sex with a child.

Surprisingly this is not the first time I’ve heard of this happening on craigslist.

He’s also been charged with 20 counts of child porn.

I wonder what section of craigslist he was soliciting parents on.

It seems that adult services and casual encounters can’t contain the perverts anymore.

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An open letter to craigslist about human trafficking and child prostitution

May 22, 2010 in Craigslist, Prostitution/Human Trafficking by Trench Reynolds | 1 comment

Craigslist ad claims underage sex for sale:

The Rebecca Project for Human Rights based out of Washington D.C. took out a half page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle asking craigslist to shut down the adult services section in order to put a stop to human trafficking and child prostitution.

The newspaper ad was an open letter to Craigslist founder Craig Newmark from girls identified only as “AK,” who is from the East Coast, and “MC,” who is from the West Coast, Saada Saar said.

The entire open letter can be read here as written by Malika Saada Saar the Executive director of the Rebecca Project for Human Rights.

The problem is the letter is directed to Craig Newmark the founder of craigslist. Last time I checked, and I could be wrong about this, Craig Newmark was now just a spokesperson for craigslist with the true power lying with craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster.

How long will Craig be willing to keep taking one for the team so to speak when it’s Jim Buckmaster’s decision to make?

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Disney and Backpage

May 20, 2010 in Backpage, Prostitution/Human Trafficking by Trench Reynolds | No comments

I originally posted about New York attorney Pete Gleason and his crusade against the Village Voice Media owned backpage.com here.

It seems that Mr. Gleason has upped the ante by approaching Village Voice Media’s advertisers and he’s gone after a big one in the form of the Disney Corporation.

Here is an excerpt of the letter that Mr. Gleason sent to Disney…

Ms. Zenia Mucha
Disney
Executive Vice President, Corporate Communications
 
Dear Ms. Mucha,
 
Greetings, my name is Pete Gleason and I am an attorney based in Tribeca.  I am very active in my community and would like to share with you a concern myself and many other parents have with regard to the free weekly publication, The Village Voice, distributed from self serve kiosks on our public streets.  Perhaps it should be a concern of Disney that The Village Voice promotes both prostitution and Disney as one of their paid advertisers.
 
Here is an example of the the Village Voice’s Backpage.com.
http://newyork.backpage.com/FemaleEscorts/
 
The Village Voice proudly lists Disney as one of their premier Advertisers
http://www.villagevoice.com/mediakit/page/clients
 
Unfortunately, in the hard copy Village Voice, just pages away from advertising for Disney movies, are display ads promoting prostitution.
 
The following web site outlines just how systemic a problem the sex industry has become and the Village Voice’s relationship thereto.
http://thetrenchcoat.com/craigscrimelist/2010/5/11/journalistic-justice-why-ags-may-not-be-focusing-on-backpage.html#entry7637798
 
I can only imagine that Disney would not want to risk its reputation on being affiliated with any entity that profits from the exploitation of others.
 
The courtesy of a reply would be appreciated so that I can share your thoughts on this matter with the other concerned parents. 
I remain
 
Very Truly Yours
Pete Gleason, esq.

I knew The Mouse was involved in some very shady business practices but I didn’t know they would cozy up to those who would facilitate not only human trafficking but child prostitution.

That doesn’t sound like the family friendly company they claim to be these days.

Uncle Walt must be spinning in his fridge.

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Phoenix teen pimped out on Backpage

May 20, 2010 in Backpage, Prostitution/Human Trafficking by Trench Reynolds | 1 comment

Female teens ‘pimped out’ 14-year-old runaway on website:

18-year-old Savoya Mansfield and 19-year-old Mattique Johnson of Phoenix are accused of kidnapping a 14-year-old girl and pimping her out on the Village Voice Media owned Backpage.com.

The pair met the victim, who is a runaway, at a party and said they would let her stay with them if she ‘earned her keep’

The pair are accused of taking extremely explicit photos of the victim and posting them on Backpage not to mention making the girl sleep in a closet along with threatening her if she tried to run off.

Luckily it seems according to the article that the potential johns realized that she was too young and walked out.

The girl’s family were able to track her down.

Now usually when these kind of stories happen on craigslist the media usually tries to contact craigslist for a comment yet I never see them trying to contact Village Voice Media for a comment. I wonder why that is.

Actually I think I know why that is. They don’t want to step on the toes of their fellow ‘journalists’.

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