craigscrimelist

St. Charles Police: Craigslist Raid Nabs Pastor:
In a craigslist hooker bust in St. Charles, Illinois a Presbyterian Minister was picked up. Six prospective johns were picked up in the bust and one of them happened to be Reverend Phillip Haltom.

I wonder why the other 5 suspects weren't named. I guess their occupations don't make for interesting copy.

Luckily this this article names four of them...

He and William J. Breedlove, 42, of North Barrington; Lanny D. Forrester, 57, of Downers Grove; Nicholas J. Stauropoulos, 35, of St. Charles; and Damon R. Thaker, 37, of Warrenville turned themselves in to police between May 5 and 7.

Police Crack Down On Coast Prostitution:
Police in Lincoln City, Oregon netted two in a craigslist hooker bust.

Police posted a phony hooker ad and were able to arrest an unnamed prominent businessman and retiree Carl Gripenburg. I wonder why the 'prominent businessman' wasn't named.

Gripenburg had no apologies...

"I didn't know it was illegal," Gripenburg said. "Two people want to get together, (I) don't see why it is illegal."

Gripenburg also said he made a mistake and that it was his first time.

First the only places that prostitution is legal in the US are certain counties in Nevada so I'm not buying that he didn't know it was illegal. Secondly someone who uses the I don't see why it's illegal argument is more than likely not a first timer.

Thanks to Reni for the tip.

Three Women Charged With Prostitution Near A School:
First off I have to pick a bone with the headline. It makes it seem as if these women were whoring themselves out in front of the school playground or something. They were actually a mile and a half away from the school. The whatever-free school zone laws are idiotic and do nothing to discourage criminals from these zones. The only purpose they serve is to make politicians feel good and keep criminals in jail longer. I like the last part of that law but like I said they do nothing to discourage criminals. Ok, rant over.

Nashville police arrested four in connection with prostitution after finding their ads on craigslist and Backpage.com. Those arrested were...

Vanessa Hedge, 25, of Goodlettsville
Lauren Hall, 19, of Franklin
Heather Soard, 20, of Murfreesboro
James Howard Malone, Jr., 22, of Murfreesboro

Malone was allegedly the pimp. Think there's no victims here. Take a look at the mugshots of these girls. They look far older than their actual ages.

Craigslist ad lands major prostitution bust:
Police in St. Paul, Minnesota arrested 13 suspects, both johns and hookers, after responding to 1 craigslist ad.

That is an awesome haul for police and the officers of St. Paul should be commended for their work.

Antioch Woman Allegedly Sold Sex On Craigslist:
Police in Antioch, California arrested Jennifer Cervantes, age not given, on a charge if suspicion of prostitution after undercover detectives responded to her craigslist ad.

Woman Arrested For Craigslist Prostitution:
That lovely vision at right is 22-year-old Patricia Lewis of Omaha, Nebraska. She was arrested for prostitution after police saw her craigslist ad for "exclusive full service". She was asking $175 an hour.

I don't know which is worse the bad dye job or the neck tattoo.

Craigslist ads lead to prostitution sting:
Police in Wichia have arrested 8 in a craigslist prostitution sting ranging in ages from 22 to 37. It tickles me that one of the charges is 'sodomy for hire'. Sounds like the name of a bad porno.

Anyway I wanted to mention something about this quote...

Police said the online site did not break any laws _ it was how the suspects were using the site that constituted illegal activity.

Which I don't disagree with but if craigslist got rid of their erotic services section this would be less of an issue.

Four arrested in pimping, prostitution bust at Antioch motel:
Detectives in Antioch, California recently made arrests in a craigslist prostitution sting. During the investigation they found a 17-year-old runaway girl who was advertising in craigslist that was living with a 29-year-old registered sex offender. The sex offender, Glen Banks, was taken into custody for violating his probation.

Also arrested was 22-year-old Savanna Lopez, who was advertising of SFRedbook, and her alleged pimp 25-year-old Joseph Thomas.

A 17-year-old hooker living with a sex offender. Please tell me again how this is a victimless crime.

Police use craigslist to make prostitution arrests:
A joint operation between the police departments of Rye Brook, Rye, Greenburgh and Elmsford, have netter 6 johns in a craigslist sting. Police placed a phony escort ad on craigslist then arrested potential customers at a hotel in Rye.

Those arrested were John W. Thornbald, 38, Benjamin J. Hoffhine, 32, Mithila P. Gunaratna, 62, Alan J. Strozza, 24, John J. Bria, 53, and Aniruddhar Mahale, 37.

Pasco Deputies Charge 4 Women With Prostitution:
Sheriff's Deputies in Pasco County, Florida have arrested 4 women for prostitution. 3 were advertising on craigslist while one was using a different website.

Arrested were Jolyn Dawn Steier, 38, Angel Ann Stebelton, 35, Shawna Marie Lee, 20, and Kimberly Anne Jimino, 25.

What I found very interesting was what brought them to the attention of police.

Deputies had received complaints from the public as well as family members and friends of the women that they were soliciting sex on the Internet, said sheriff's office spokesman Doug Tobin.

I wonder if they tried the vaunted flagging of the ads first. According to craigslist that's supposed to solve everything.

Women offering prostitution services on craigslist caught in undercover sting:
Police in Suffolk, Virginia have arrested 3 craigslist hookers in a recent sting operation.

They are 31-year-old Jennifer Ann Blackwell who was also popped for having pot, 21-year-old Breanna Liggett, who brought along her 17-year-old sister for a two girl show, and 26-year-old Jennifer Ely who was also popped for cocaine.

The article provides a picture of Ms. Ely.



Oh yeah, I know where I've seen her...

She's 18, a senior — and a suspect in craigslist shooting:
The case of the canceled escort just keeps on rolling.

Now we are finding out that the escort in question, Starsha Laquisha Swift, had no intention of 'escorting' Mr. VanDyke. If you'll recall Mr. VanDyke oredered an escort from craigslist but tried to cancel the order. The escort showed up at his door anyway with muscle in tow. When Mr. VanDyke shut the door the muscle, Brock Franklin, shot Mr. VanDyke through the door shattering his jaw. Police are saying that Swift's only intent was to rob Mr. VanDyke.

It also turns out that she's still in high school...

She was arrested Monday after investigators went to her high school.

They confiscated her diary, which included an entry that read: "a man stood in the door clack shat boom what should I do run for safety wait patiently for the man to awake from critical condition," said the criminal complaint.

Wayzata High School Principal Craig Paul said Swift had re-entered the school in the affluent west metro suburb in the past week for the fourth quarter. He said he had no more details.

So think twice before ordering a craigslist hooker. You may have you face shot off by a high school kid.

Staying Safe When Using Sites Like Craigslist:
There has been a second arrest in the shooting of Jeff VanDyke. The alleged escort, 19-year-old Starsha Swift, has also been arrested.

Wow, turning tricks at 19 and helping to shoot people in the face. But again there's no victims here right?

Online escort client shot after he has 2nd thoughts:
Jeffrey L. VanDyke of Coon Rapids, MN ordered an 'escort' through an ad on craigslist. However he had second thoughts and tried to cancel his order. Apparently you can't cancel an order for a craigslist 'escort'. After repeated attempts at canceling his order the 'escort' showed up anyway. When VanDyke refused the woman entrance her alleged escort, Brock A. Franklin, 22, fired a gun through the door striking VanDyke in the jaw.

Frankiln has been charged with first-degree aiding an attempted murder.

Let's hear from a common sense spokesperson...

People need a "buyer-beware" mentality when using the Internet to find services or products, said Anoka County Sheriff's Capt. James Stuart.

"If you're looking to do anything online, it's good to research who you're dealing with," he said. "And if you're going to cross the line and try to do illegal activity online, the risks are even greater."

And now from a craigslist spokeperson...

A spokeswoman for craigslist said in an e-mail that misuse of the service for criminal purposes is "absolutely unacceptable to us, and we work together with law enforcement until the perpetrator is brought to justice."

OR...you could have prevented the whole scenario from happening by eliminating the erotic services section. Just an idea.

Over at one of my other sites, CrimeNe.ws I posted about the story of Katreice Trujillo. She's a woman from Denver that allegedly fed meth to her 3-month-old baby.

A commenter by the name of Sean claims to live in the same neighborhood as Trujillo and it turns out that not only was she using meth around her baby but she was also a craigslist hooker and a backpage hooker.

So we have two 'victimless crimes' here. Drug use and prostitution. They don't almost always go hand in hand.