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Jury recommends death for David Sparre

December 13, 2011 in Craigslist, Killers by Trench Reynolds | No comments

David Sparre

Jury recommends death for Craigslist killer:

Today a jury in Jacksonville, Florida recommended the death sentence for David Sparre in the bloodthirsty stabbing death of Tiara Poole. The pair had met on craigslist through the personals. Sparre stabbed her to death and stole her car and several of her other possessions.

In a move not recommended by his attorney Sparre waived the right to have witnesses testify on his behalf to try to dissuade the jury from the death penalty. It seems that Sparre has consigned himself to his fate since he smiled the whole time during the reading of the jury’s recommendation.

A judge will still have the final say in Sparre’s ultimate fate but I don’t see the judge going against the jury’s recommendation but I have been wrong before.

If the death sentence is delivered Sparre will have the luxury of just going to sleep permanently instead of being ferociously stabbed almost 90 times like his victim.

Craigslist crime post #1534
Killers post #153

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David Sparre convicted in craigslist killing of Tiara Pool

December 2, 2011 in Craigslist, Killers by Trench Reynolds | 4 comments

David Sparre

Man convicted in Craigslist murder of Navy wife:

In July of last year 20-year-old David Sparre was arrested for the brutal stabbing death of Tiara Pool in Jacksonville, Florida. The pair had met on craigslist either through the personals or casual encounters. Today justice was served as Sparre was convicted of first degree murder.

Tiara Pool was a 21-year-old mother of two who was married to man serving in the Navy but they were having marital problems. She met Sparre through craigslist and during their encounter Sparre stabbed her 89 times with part of the blade breaking off in her skull. Sparre also stole some of her possessions including her car, a Playstation and a wireless router.

Sparre’s attorney admitted that Sparre killed Tiara but tried arguing that Sparre blacked out upon finding out that Tiara was married. Does this actually happen outside of soap operas? Thankfully the jury didn’t buy it and handed down a guilty verdict.

Sparre is more than eligible for the death penalty. The sentencing phase is set to take place starting December 13th.

Is it me or does it look like he’s taken well to prison life. Compare his mugshot to the picture above from his trial. He’s got the teardrop tattoos and the Vanilla Ice eyebrows.

Hopefully his stay in prison before a date with the needle will be a short one.

Craigslist crime post #1530
Killers post #150

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Craigslist boat-jacker got more than he bargained for

October 2, 2011 in Craigslist, Robbery by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Darin Leutbecker

Boat seller claims he was almost killed:

Brevard man arrested in New Smyrna Beach armed boat-jacking:

I briefly posted about last month’s craigslist boat-jacking here. It turns out that the alleged boat thief got more than just a stolen boat.

Police in Florida say that 38-year-old Darin Leutbecker responded to a craigslist ad for a boat for sale. When the boat’s owner and Leutbecker were out on the water Leutbecker allegedly pulled a gun on the owner. That’s when things turned into a 70s TV show kind of fight. During the scuffle both men ended up in the water. At one point shots were fired at the boat owner but he may have gotten the last laugh when he slashed the throat of his attacker.

Luckily the boat owner was relatively unharmed while Leutbecker was picked up at the hospital while seeking treatment for his injury.

It just goes to show you what kind of dangers are lurking in every section of craigslist.

Craigslist crime post #1517
Robbery post #161

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Man named after a country charged with backpage sex assault

September 22, 2011 in Backpage, Predators by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Carlos Portugal

Two women claim man they met online attacked them at gunpoint in Indian River County woods:

In Indian River County, Florida police there have arrested 21-year-old Carlos Portugal for the alleged sexual assault of two women he met on the Village Voice Media owned backpage.com.

It’s unknown at this time why the women were meeting Portugal but police say he led them into the woods claiming that’s where his house was and then forced them to perform sex acts on him at gunpoint.

Backpage does have a personals section so it is possible that they met Portugal through there. However since it’s backpage one could be safe in assuming that these were working girls. However that shouldn’t let Portugal off the hook if they were.

Either way backpage is a dangerous place to meet people from and obviously they do nothing to protect their users whether they are prostitutes or not.

Backpage crime post #154
Predators post #257

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Kids magician to disappear for a few years.

September 16, 2011 in Craigslist, Predators by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Howard Scott Kalin

Balloon artist-magician pleads guilty to soliciting sex online from ’14-year-old boy’:

49-year-old Howard Scott Kalin of Essex, Maryland has pleaded guilty to craigslist child solicitation in Lake County, Florida. Not only is Kalin a lawyer but he’s also a kids magician/balloon animal artist.

Kalin was in Florida when he responded to an ad posted in the Men Seeking Men section of craigslist that was posted by an uncle looking to turn out his 14-year-old nephew. Of course the nephew didn’t exist and the uncle turned out to be a Lake County deputy.

With his plea Kalin will be going away for 10 years. I’m sure he’ll learn a new set of a balloon skills while in the joint.

Now while in this instance the victim was non-existent situations like this where children are turned out by family members does go on in the pages of craigslist. For every arrest that’s made I wonder how many times this goes on where they get away.

While the legal heat is currently on backpage right now craigslist has far from cleaned up their own house.

Craigslist crime post #1511
Predators post #256

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Craigslist nanny charged with child porn

August 25, 2011 in Craigslist, Predators by Trench Reynolds | 3 comments

Daniel Cortopassi

Detectives: Man charged with owning child pornography ran male nanny ads on Craigslist:

First off who is stupid enough to hire a nanny off of craigslist?

Anyway the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office had been looking for 21-year-old Daniel Cortopassi for three weeks. It seems they had allegedly found 278 child pornography videos on his computer.

Cortopassi is said to have advertised his services as a nanny on craigslist. Just who you want watching your kids huh?

Investigators are concerned that Cortopassi may have been contacted in reference to the male nanny ads. Anyone with information is asked to call the Pinellas Sheriff’s Crimes Against Children Unit at (727) 582-6200.

Once again this shows the kind of predators that are trolling craigslist for victims any way possible.

Craigslist crime post #1500
Predators post #249

Safer classifieds at Geebo.com

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The craigslist killing that isn’t

July 24, 2011 in Craigslist, Killers by Trench Reynolds | 4 comments

Latoya Jordan

Woman, 24, Arrested In Craigslist Killing:

I’m sure my 5 readers are anxious for me to talk about the most recent murder that the Florida media has dubbed a ‘craigslist killing’ but I don’t think it is.

In Fruit Cove, Florida 24-year-old Latoya Jordan has been arrested for the stabbing murder of 53-year-old Daniel Somerson. Jordan is said to have met Somerson on craigslist. Investigators say that Jordan would use craigslist in order to find places to live where men would take care of her. Supposedly all the relationships she had with these men were strictly platonic. The thing is Jordan met and started living with Somerson two months before she allegedly murdered him. Police say that the murder happened over some type of dispute. In my opinion this is not a ‘craigslist killing’.

If you look through the annals of this site you’ll see that most of the killings connected with craigslist started out as robberies as shown by the murder of Julissa Brisman by Philip Markoff. Or they were just nuts and bent on killing like Michael John Anderson in the murder of Katherine Ann Olson. My point being is that in these cases craigslist was a direct instrument of the crime. While Mr. Somerson’s death is indeed tragic craigslist was only indirectly involved.

So bottom line, at least on this site, Latoya Jordan will not be considered among the scores of murderers here who are considered craigslist killers.

Craigslist crime post #1490
Killers post #139

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The hot girl on craigslist really doesn’t want you

July 15, 2011 in Craigslist, Robbery by Trench Reynolds | No comments

Police: Craigslist ‘Companionship’ Ad Leads To Attack, Robbery:

I used to have a site called MyCrimeSpace. It dealt with crimes as it relates to social media and gave birth to this very site. There used to be a running gag on the site we called “The hot girl on MySpace doesn’t really want you” due to the number of guys who were being robbed while thinking they were going on a MySpace booty call. Not surprisingly it also happens on craigslist. I’ve mostly focused on this when gay males go cruising and end up getting robbed but straight men are still at it too.

For example this dumbass from Palm Beach County, Florida who went on a craigslist hook up to meet a woman calling herself ‘Holly’. Holly allegedly placed an ad on craigslist looking for ‘companionship’. The kind of companionship guys think about at 4am because that’s when the victim went to meet her.

Instead he got a beatdown by two men while ‘Holly’ stood there and watched.

After the beating, the men took the victim’s wallet and keys, then tied his hands and feet and threw him in the trunk of his car. They then drove the car for a few minutes, let the man out of the trunk, then drove off in his car.

Not quite what he was looking for I’m sure. However this all could have been prevented if the guy wasn’t thinking with his dick.

Holly has been identified as Stephanie Scott and has been charged.

Bottom line: Don’t be a dumbass. The women on craigslist who say they want companionship are either hookers or they want to rob you.

Craigslist crime post #1486
Robbery post #157

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Rollerblading pedo caught in craigslist sting

June 30, 2011 in Craigslist, Predators by Trench Reynolds | 2 comments

James Randall Wilson

Man on rollerblades charged in sex sting:

19-year-old James Randall Wilson was arrested in Orange County, Florida in a craigslist sting.

Police in Orange County posted an ad on craigslist posing as a woman who was selling out her 13-year-old niece for sex. The ad was looking for someone to “play and have fun with” with “my AWESOME niece.”

Wilson showed up for the meeting on rollerbaldes with condoms allegedly in his possession. He had the condoms because he allegedly promised not to get the girl pregnant.

Just another story where I’m sure this ad was placed in the casual encounters section without craigslist’s knowledge and where the community policing did nothing to prevent it. Luckily it was placed by police but how many ads like this aren’t?

Craigslist crime post #1482
Predators post #236

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South Florida backpage escorts beaten, robbed and raped

June 5, 2011 in Backpage, Predators, Prostitution/Human Trafficking, Robbery by Trench Reynolds | 1 comment

Tipped by online ads, robbers terrorize escorts in SoFla hotels:

In Broward County, Florida there have been a series of robberies and assaults of women who advertise as ‘escorts’ on the Village Voice Media owned backppage.com. It at least one incident a victim was raped by two men.

Some of the suspects have been arrested…

Arrested in May and charged in the Broward robbery spree were: Eutil Couch, 29, of Sunrise; Brandon Lamichael Medina, 23, of Hollywood; Keonta Murray, 26, of Port St. Lucie; and Henry Ronald Mitchell, 24, and Jonathan H. Williams, 23, both of Fort Lauderdale.

What I really want to talk about is Village Voice Media’s response, or lack thereof…

An executive at Village Voice Media, Backpage.com’s owner, referred questions to legal counsel Steve Suskin. He could not be reached for comment, despite emails and a phone message left at his office.

Legal counsel? That sounds like VVM is circling the wagons. At least when craigslist refused to comment to the media the refusal came from Jimmy or Craig themselves.

The Sun Sentinel article also turned up a little quote that I was unaware of about backpage from VVM themselves…

Village Voice wrote in a Sept. 19 blog entry that it cooperates with authorities and has safeguards to ensure only adults use the site.

It argued that people can legally post directly onto websites like Backpage.com “without pre-screening or censorship,” according to the blog entry. “The responsibility, under the law, rests with the person supplying the post.”

For one, obviously the ‘safeguards’ don’t work because I’ve documented on this site numerous times of children being peddled. secondly saying that the responsibility lies with the person making the post is just VVM’s way of saying that they don’t care what happens through their site just as long as they keep making money.

The fight isn’t over yet. Help spread the word on craigslist and backpage crime by winning a free CraigsCrimeList T-Shirt.

Backpage crime post #122
Predators post #232
Prostitution/Human Trafficking post #706
Robbery post #155

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