Robbery

Two Arrested In Tigard Craigslist Attack:

Remember the beating and robbery that happened in Tigard, Oregon after the victim posted a craigslist ad? The suspects have been caught.

Police arrested Matthew Johansen and Jamie Sweany. Both were arrested on outstanding warrants.

They kind of do look like their police sketches don’t they? What’s up with the no eyebrows anyway?

It’s still unknown what the victim was selling in his craigslist ad.

Free Stuff Ad Leads Thieves To Home:

A woman’s ad on the Portland craigslist led to her home being ransacked. She was giving some stuff away for free but she put something on her ad that just invited the thieves.

“I did put in the ad: ‘Knock on the door and if I’m there, I’ll let you see the rest of the stuff,’

So when she wasn’t there a couple of thieves help themselves to the items in her backyard after busting down the fence.

Who would have thought that criminals look at craigslist?

N. Calif. Called Craigslist Crime ‘Hotspot’:

This was an interview I did with TV station KCRA in Sacramento, California about violent crimes and craigslist. Yes, I know they call me Trent Reynolds. That’s more TV friendly than Trench. It’s not like either of those are my real name anyway so there you have it.

I thought I would be going head to head with Jim Buckmaster himself but that turned out not to be. I would have loved to have had that opportunity.

First let me brag about my one and only quote in the article…

Crimes such as stolen items for sale, offers of prostitution and money fraud are much more common. A clearing house for these crimes is found on the Web site craigscrimelist.org — a site where victims can share their Craigslist horror stories.

“I see more crimes reported on the West Coast and in the Pacific Northwest. The big hotspots would be in Northern California,” site developer Trent Reynolds said.

The area is a Craigslist fan base: The site was born just down the road in San Francisco, and Northern California’s in turn use it more and are more likely to become victims.

It’s true. Violent crimes like armed robbery are more rare on craigslist than prostitution and fraud but that doesn’t make it any less of an issue. And Northern California is the epicenter of craigslist related crime since that’s where the site got it’s start and people have been using it longer there than anywhere else.

Now let’s hear from craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster…

According to Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist, the percentage of postings that end in significant crimes is low when compared with the legitimate use of the site.

Buckmaster claimed Craigslist is unable to track the number of crimes involving the site. He said the task would be daunting, pointing to the 50 million monthly users, 35 million listings and 12 billion monthly pageviews.

“The incidence is not zero. We’d like it be zero, but it’s not zero,” Buckmaster said.

It’s definitely not zero but like I said it’s a large enough number to cause concern yet Mr. Buckmaaster just washes his hands of it and refuses to do anything to protect his userbase.

User profiles, while not a perfect solution, would go a long way to discouraging a lot of crime on craigslist. So would eliminating the erotic services section. Two things that craigslist is not considering. So anonymous crime will continue unabated on craigslist. Eventually people will get so fed up with it they’ll move on to other sites and then the big wigs at craigslist will wonder what happened.

Again, how have they not hired me as a consultant. I’m not above selling out to the man. craigslist and its users see themselves as going against the grain but in reality they’re just another corporation hence they are ‘the man’.

Sketches Of Craigslist Attackers Released:

Police in Tigard, Oregon have released sketches of the suspects wanted in the beating and robbery of a man who was selling something on craigslist.

Yep…there they are…in all their generic glory.

At least there’s a physical description…

The male robber is described as white, 6 feet 4 inches to 6 feet 5 inches tall and 200 to 240 pounds with an athletic build. The man was about 30 years old and has a tribal-type tattoo on his forearm.

The woman involved is described as white, about 25 to 30 years old, 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall and 150 to 160 pounds. She had shoulder-length, dirty blond hair.

Ok, so the description doesn’t help much either. That describes just about every early 30’s couple I know.

Anyway if you recognize Mr. and Mrs. Everybody please call the number listed in the article.

But I think I’ve discovered the male suspect’s identity…
Read the rest of this entry »

Craigslist ad leads to beating, robbery:

I’m not familiar with Tigard, Oregon so I don’t know if these stories are reflective of the community. All I know is it seems like Tigard shows up way too often in these stories.

A man in Tigrad who had a mystery ad on craigslist received a visit the other night from a couple who seemed to be interested in whatever he had to sell. Except they weren’t really.

They ended up pistol whipping the man, tying him up, and stealing his truck.

Seriously people, stop selling stuff from out of your house on craigslist.

Thanks to Greg for the tip.

I can’t believe the amount of reader e-mail I keep getting. For a small site like this it’s a lot. I don’t mind at all. I’m just glad that people are becoming educated about craigslist scams.

The following comes to us from Martin who was trying to buy a car off of craigslist…

Hi there. I am glad I stumbled upon your site. I just wanted to post the worst craigslist experience I’ve had. Overall, I do get good experiences but this time was a run with a major con artist who advertised a vehicle for a price that was a bargain but not too cheap where it seemed too good to be true. In fact, he answered his phone and was ready to show the
vehicle and his ad said he had the pink slip.

I brought 6k in cash with me and met this seller who really played the part well as a rich early twenties kid who needed the money fast to fix his primary vehicle. I test drive the car and ask him if I could have a mechanic down the street take a quick look. This was not part of his plan
but he agrees. I then ask him about the pink slip. He states to have left it at home (he now claims that his brother posted the ad for him)..and we could drive the car together and get the pinkslip at his house. While the car was in the shop, I told him instead of waiting, lets go get the slip…he agrees.. but once in my car, he demands the cash upfront and I resist. I believe his accomplices were worried on what’s taking him so long. He freaks out and tells me to turn around and cancel the deal.

I am puzzled as to why he cancelled. I went home and lo and behold, I googled the name of the registered owner and turns out to be an older couple! The wife of the owner had a blog on myspace venting that their car (the car I was buying) was stolen that same morning.

Turns out the crook responded to the owner’s sale ad and stole the car pretending he was going to test drive it but took off before the owner could get into the passenger side.

Seems like I foiled his final attempt to swap the vehicle for cold hard cash that I had. I am shocked as to what my fate could’ve been if I did not delay him and took him to where he wanted me to take him. I could’ve been robbed, ambushed or shot just for my cash. I am working with law officials now to apprehend. We have surveillance and prints ready and ill keep you
updated on our results.

Thank you Martin. Hopefully now more people will be wary when buying a used car from craigslist and hopefully ask the right questions like you did.

Craig’s List sale leads to robbery:

Satan over there is 18-year-old Santos Gomez of Clearwater, Florida. Gomez and one of his minions, 17-year-old Jean Andrade, spotted an X-Box for sale on craigslist. They contacted the seller, met them in public, and legally and safely bought the X-Box. Just kidding, they robbed the seller at gunpoint.

The Clearwater police gave a really great tip in the article. If you’re going to sell something on craigslist complete the transaction in front of the police department. That’s a brilliant yet obvious idea. You may want to clear it with your local police department first.

Suspected prostitutes report attacks in Milpitas:

Three prostitutes from Milpitas, California have been robbed since June and one was sexually assaulted. All said that it happened after arranging meetings through craigslist or MyRedBook. One of the victims is 17-years-old.

Police believe it’s the work of the same group of people each time.

Robbery victims attracted through craigslist ad:
22-year-old Kennard Isaiah Love of San Jose, CA was arrested in Milpitas, CA on robbery charges. Love would place a craigslist ad for a car for sale then rob his victims when they would show up. In one instance Love pistol whipped his victim.

Arrested with Love was Keith Tyler Rucker, 23, of Manteca, CA who was wanted on similar robbery charges in San Jose and Santa Clara, Ca.

Ok, remember when I told you about the Illinois craigslist robbery scam? Well, one of the suspects, Dwayne W. Morrow, escaped police custody last Saturday. Not to worry however as he was recaptured yesterday in his hometown of Maywood, Ill.

Gang members wanted for Craigslist ad assault arrested:
Last week I posted about gang members Tuan Q. Vuu and Keith E. Brakes who were wanted for the shooting, stabbing, and robbery of an Olympia, Wash. craigslist seller. Last I heard they were still on the run. That much has changed. Vuu and Brakes were picked up police sometime last week.

The attack might have been a “setup” — a retaliation by members of the True Brothers, or “Tin Bahn,” gang in Olympia who thought the victim had robbed their friends in Tacoma, police said.

Police also believe 16-year-old Jimmy Trac who was already in police custody was the getaway driver.

Three arrested in Craigslist robberies:
Not too long ago I posted about three men that were arrested for craigslist related robberies. At the time I did not have their names. Now thanks to Chicago’s ABC affiliate we now know that they are Dewayne Morrow, 21, of Maywood, Ill., Stephen Johnson, 18, also of Maywood, and Donquez Nicholson, 17, Chicago.

They would contact sellers that sold high end goods, meet them, then rob them. Police think that the trio had at least 20 victims.

The arrests of two other suspects may be forthcoming.

Craigslist sale ends in Fremont robberies:
An elaborate robbery scheme involving craigslist took place on Wednesday in Fremont, California.

The man told police that he saw a Sony Vaio laptop computer for sale on Craigslist and agreed to meet the sellers in Ardenwood to purchase the item.

When he arrived, the sellers showed him the computer. But just seconds into the transaction, a stranger appeared from the complex, asked what was in the bag, then demanded the computer while displaying the handle of a silver gun that was tucked in his waistband, the San Jose man told police.

The robber also demanded cash from the San Jose man, but fled when the victim said he had none.

Moments later, the sellers of the computer confronted the San Jose man and demanded the $1,400 in cash, which was how much the laptop was supposed to cost.

The sellers then rifled through the victim’s front pockets, took his wallet — which contained no cash — his cell phone and car keys, which they used to unlock his car and steal other items, Veteran said. The man had hidden the cash in a back pocket, police said.

After the sellers ran off, the San Jose man reported the incident to police. He told officers the whole thing may have been a setup.

The anonymity of craigslist continues to breed more criminals.

Police: Stripper-Involved Death Was Self-Defense:
So these two guys in Orlando get a “stripper” from craigslist except the stripper was there for more than stripping. According to the article she was scoping out the house for her partner in crime to rob. Her partner showed up at the house with a gun in order to rob it. However the gunman didn’t think his cunning plan all the way through because one of the guys from the house had his own gun. The guy opened fire killing the suspect.

No matter which side of craigslist you’re doing business on you may get more than you bargained for. In this case I’m sure the criminals didn’t bargain on death.

Thanks to Brian for the link.

Police: Woman on hooker scam called her victims ‘losers’:
34-year-old Judiann Madera of North Andover, Mass. has been arrested on several charges including prostitution and robbery. What Madera did was she placed an ad on craigslist offering sex for money. When the Johns would show up she and her boyfriend, Bienvenido “Benny” Almenas, 24, of Lawrence, Mass., would rob the Johns for money. Madera did not actually have sex with the victims. She referred to her victims as losers and said they deserve to have their money taken.

I know that it’s wrong, but if you’re stupid enough to pay somebody, then you’re stupid enough to get your money taken,” police quoted her as saying.

Hard to argue there. Anyway she figured that none of the victims would report the crime out of shame. She figured wrong.

Police said they learned about the scam when a victim e-mailed police on Sept. 28 and tipped them off to the situation. He told them he was robbed of more than $200, and he worried the same thing would happen to other people. Police conducted an undercover operation where they called the phone number in the craigslist.com advertisement and set up an appointment.

Madera and Co. tried to rob an undercover officer and it was all downhill from there.

It seems like that getting a craigslist hooker is a lot like Russian roulette. You never know which one is either going to be a cop or worse.