Susan MacTavish Best

Santa Clara County jury convicts Craigslist attacker:

26-year-old Kanari Nelson of San Jose, California was convicted yesterday for the assault and rapes of various craigslist prostitutes. He’s looking at a max of 200 years behind bars. That’s not a misprint. He could be sentenced up to 2 centuries.

Let’s hear from the D.A.

“Anytime this guy wanted to sexually assault somebody, he just had to go online and pick from a menu,” said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney James Leonard, who won the case.

Craigslist, of course, had no comment but their mouthpiece, Susan Mactavish Best, said there would be a significant announcement about that topic today. I’m all a-flutter wondering what that announcement might be. You don’t think it could be *gasp* that they’re eliminating the erotic services section? Nah. They’d never do that no matter how many women get raped.

Authorities charge 7 women for soliciting sex on Craigslist:

Police in Lenoir County, NC were recently tipped off to craigslist prostitution in their area. They did what any responsible police department would do, they set up a craigslist hooker sting.

In the process of the sting they arrested 7 hookers, a john and a driver for those of you keeping score at home.

The reporter who wrote the article actually got a response from craigslist’s mouthpiece but it wasn’t much of a response.

“Misuse of craigslist for illegal purposes is unacceptable. The incidence of crime on craigslist is actually very low, considering the tens of millions of ads that are posted each month, and together with craigslist users and law enforcement we are working continually to eliminate it.

Thanks,

Susan Mactavish Best
Best Public Relations on behalf of Craigslist

And again I have to say that if they really wanted to eliminate crime on craigslist they would remove the erotic services section completely so basically craigslist is just paying lip service to the media.

Craigslist users wary after killing of baby-sitter:
Susan MacTavish Best of craigslist had the following to say about the murder of Katherine Ann Olson…

“We were shocked and saddened to hear of this terrible tragedy, and our deepest sympathies are with the victim’s family and friends,” said Susan MacTavish Best, a spokeswoman for craigslist, an international network of online communities that features free classified advertising.

Best said there’s never been a homicide linked to craigslist since it was founded 12 years ago.

“Assuming the craigslist link is confirmed, this would be the first time,” Best said, referring to Olson’s death.

Best said craigslist officials work with law enforcement whenever they receive a request, but she wouldn’t comment specifically about their involvement in the Olson investigation.

I bet you think I’m going to rip her again but I’m not. Unlike when defending the erotic services section Ms. MacTavish-Best did not use this as an opportunity to tout how great craigslist is. However this may not be the first craigslist murder. In a sort of twisted backwards way but with no disrespect meant towards anyone involved there is still the matter of Donna Jou.

Donna Jou went missing in July and was last seen leaving on a date with a guy by the name of John Burgess that she met on craigslist. Unfortunately as of yet she has not been found and even less unfortunately police are unable to charge Burgess with anything due to lack of evidence. However it’s entirely possible that Donna Jou may be the first craigslist murder.

Now you may thing that there’s a difference between answering a personal ad and a job ad on craigslist. There is but only slightly. Predators don’t usually use job ads to attract victims but it’s not unheard of.

This past July I posted a story at MyCrimeSpace about a woman who was approached sexually by a man she thought was a prospective employer.

I guess what I’m saying is that since criminal elements lurk in the rest of craigslist it was only a matter of time before they seeped into the employment ads as well. So no matter what kind of ad you’re placing or responding to on craigslist it doesn’t hut to be overly cautious. The old saying holds true here, just because you’re not paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.

Be careful out there.

Check Scam Hits Internet Classifieds:
The craigslist check scam has made the news once again this time in the Miami area. Again luckily the craigslist seller didn’t take the bait.

54-year-old Riscalla “Steve” Stephen was trying to sell his 97 Ford Escort on craigslist for $350. He received a check for $2,800 with the ALleged buyer saying he made a mistake and asked Mr. Stephen to send the difference back.

Stephen did what all of us should do–he called the bank.

“The bank called back in about an hour and said that the check had been cashed a year ago,” he said.

What’s craigslist doing about these scammers? Just like everything else, not much.

CBS4’s Stephen Stock contacted Craiglist.com, but their management says it has nothing to do with financial transactions, but a representative does say it is aware that this type of scam has become very common sites such as Craigslist.

The spokeswoman says to use common sense and never send or wire money to someone in situations like this.

I bet you I know which spokeswoman that is.

She is right about one thing though. You should use common sense. Common sense being don’t use craigslist.

Responding to concerns:
It wasn’t that long ago that the Mayor of Atlanta, Shirley Franklin, chided craigslist for facilitating child prostitution. Of course craigslist brushed it off. One of Ms. Frankin’s advisors even mentioned that Facebook and MySpace have been very forthcoming with the mayor’s office even when not legally obligated to do so.

However our favorite craigslist mouthpiece, Susan MacTavish Best, had this to say…

“Craigslist has an erotic services section on the site because our users asked us to create it in order to keep the personals section clear of erotic service ads. (Some folks when looking for a date do not want to have to look at ads for erotic services). Certainly, we … don’t want the site to be used for illegal activity. But we do believe that there should be a place for people to advertise legal escort services. We have over 30 million users a month. As we responded to the Mayor of Atlanta, we are always interested in hearing how we can make Craigslist better. Craigslist makes no money from erotic services because like most of the site, it is free to post there … “

Legal escort services? No such thing my dear. They may pose as legal but we all know what they’re fronts for. And again you say that you don’t want craigslist used for illegal activities but you’re not doing anything to discourage it. So basically by moving the erotic services section out of the personals you just swept in under the rug hoping nobody would notice.

What’s it going to take craigslist before you do something about this? Are you waiting for a toddler to get pimped out or worse?

As hookers move from streets to Net, cops follow:
For those of you who think that prostitutes are safer on craigslist than they are on the streets I present you this quote…

Some prostitutes believe they’re safer advertising on Web sites, but they’re not, said Julie, a former prostitute who asked that her last name not be used. When Julie began using the Internet for prostitution about two years ago, she tried to screen her customers, but responding to one led to her being raped and robbed, she said.

“People can tell you anything on the Internet and they do,” said Julie, who is 23 and became a prostitute at 17. “What better place to get a woman if you want to do something to her? I would meet these guys and no one else would see them. At least if I was on the street, other people would be around and see me get into a car or something.”

Not that craigslist cares. I think their mouthpiece has a macro button that just spits out the following…

“Craigslist is a user-moderated site, and our users flag off ads that they feel are inappropriate for the craigslist community,” Susan MacTavish Best said in a statement. “Users are really speedy about flagging off problematic ads, and we’ve found that to be the most efficient and fastest way to get such ads off the site.”

And again I say that your normal craigslist users who use it as a city wide garage sale aren’t going into the erotic services section. And the people that are sure as hell aren’t going to flag any ads.

Crackdown on S.J. prostitution turns to the Web:
This article from a Northern California newspaper has some pretty sobering statistics about craigslist prostitution.

Determining just how many prostitutes are operating on the Web is tricky. The erotic services section of Craigslist’s Stockton-area section has had nearly 5,115 posts since Aug. 13, many of them duplicates. Some have been posted by those who offer services for free.

For reference, there were 998 posts for furniture for sale by owner in that period.

The trend locally mirrors what’s happening in the nation’s largest cities. Craigslist erotic services postings totaled 97,243 in New York, 27,174 for Los Angeles and 7,435 for Chicago in a similar timeframe.

craigslist’s resident mouthpiece had the usual to say.

Craigslist relies on its users to report posts that are deemed inappropriate, wrote Susan MacTavish Best, a spokeswoman for the Web site, in an e-mail response to questions.

The Web site’s staff is not legally obligated to monitor the millions of posts it receives each month, but it does remove prohibited content - anything unlawful or pornographic, according to MacTavish Best.

Police occasionally come knocking about posts.

“We are contacted by law enforcement from time to time,” MacTavish Best wrote, “and Craigslist cooperates fully with the police and other authorities.”

Yet they keep their erotic services section up and running and continue to facilitate in all forms of prostitution and possibly human trafficking.

Craigslist seems to be getting a lot criminal activity: from marijuana sales to prostitution:
It seems that I’m not the only one who has been noticing the criminal activity on craigslist. This post from Product Reviews recaps some recent stories, like the New Jersey pot dealer, but what I loved about this post was this quote…

Susan MacTavish a Craigslist spokeswoman still maintains that any illegal activity is still banned from the site, but it seems as if users of the site do not care about the ban.

Obviously but I think that Ms. MacTavish and Mr. Buckmaster don’t really care about the ban either.

Man accused of selling pot on Craigslist:
My home state making me proud again…

SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) _ Somerset County authorities arrested a man who allegedly used the Internet classified advertising site Craigslist.com to advertise marijuana sales.

John P. Scott, 27, of Springfield Township, Burlington County, was arrested Wednesday on charges of distributing marijuana and hashish.

Authorities said the investigation began when a Montgomery Township detective saw an advertisement for “420 shrubs for sale.”

The classified ad went on to describe the plants as being from Arizona and having a “very nice pungent smell,” authorities said. The advertiser also said he “would consider BARTERING for finer shrubs.”

An undercover detective contacted Scott and met with him and purchased drugs on three different occasions, authorities said. After the third purchase, Scott was arrested.

A craigslist spokesperson had the usual non-answer…

A Craigslist spokeswoman, Susan MacTavish, said illegal activity is banned on the site.

“We cooperate with authorities … and receive high marks from them for our cooperation,” MacTavish said.

You know just because you keep saying that illegal activity is banned on the site it doesn’t make it true.