Tacoma

‘I just didn’t expect this kind of violation’:
Harassment is stating to become such a regular theme with craigslist that I may have to give it its own category.

This time it’s a woman from Tacoma, Washington who is feeling the wrath of an ex-employee that she fired. The harrasor (is that a word?) took the usual route of posting a pic of the harassee on craigslist along with several phone numbers advertising what can be called “a good time”.

The calls to her work phone and a strange man’s voice telling her, “hope you’re having a good day and look forward to hearing back from you.” And the calls to her work phone: “I just replied to your e-mail and uhhhhh, calling this number…” and messages via e-mail.

And then, strangers started calling her personal cell phone and home phone. “At that point,” said Ann, “it became personal.”

Ann and her husband discovered the men were responding to an ad on the Craigslist Web site. It said she was a single female looking for sex with a couple. The ad even included Ann’s photograph taken from her company website.

A friend of mine and his wife used to have a phone number that was one digit off from one of these ads. After a while instead of telling people they got the wrong number they just started messing with the people calling. You need to not freak out over these things. What I would have done in this situation is since I know who placed the ad I would tell the men calling to meet me at the following address. Then I would give the address of the ex-employee who placed the ad. Problem solved.

Craigslist, helping people gain revenge since 1995.

Woman enters plea in Craigslist case:
Do you remember the story about the house in Tacoma that was advertised on craigslist telling everyone to take whatever they can from the house but then turned out to be a really mean prank?

Well, the main suspect in the case who maintained her innocence all throughout the incident has pleaded guilty.

Nichole Marie Blackwell maintained her innocence but entered modified guilty pleas to second-degree burglary and first-degree malicious mischief during a court hearing Monday morning.

Pierce County Superior Court Vicki Hogan accepted the pleas and sentenced Blackwell to three months of electric home monitoring. In exchange for the plea deal, prosecutors dropped one count of first-degree criminal impersonation.

Prosecutors had alleged that Blackwell maliciously posted an ad on the popular Internet site March 24. The ad invited the public to “come and take whatever you want” from a house on East 64th Street in Tacoma.

People did, removing baseboards, the kitchen sink and other items. Investigators said Blackwell told them she posted the ad to get back at her aunt, who had been feuding with Blackwell’s mother.

Three months house arrest huh? Someone should place ad on craigslist stating anyone can come by her house at anytime and poke her with a stick or something. (That’s a joke people. Don’t really do that.)

Craigslist ad leads to family terror:
The Bowman Family of Tacoma, Wash. got more than they bargained for when they tried to buy a car for their son on craigslist.

The family did take some precautions, said Bowman, who works for the state Department of Labor and Industries. Her husband talked to the seller on the phone and they agreed to meet at a public location.

But when the family – Cheryl, her husband, and their 11-year-old daughter and 20-year-old son – arrived at the Tacoma site, they were told the car wasn’t there. It wouldn’t be available for a few more days, according to her account and court records.

That’s when they were approached by a man calling himself Shawn. He told them he had a similar car for sale if they wanted to come look at it.

The Bowmans followed “Shawn” and another man for 15 to 20 minutes, winding down into a residential neighborhood, Bowman said.

“He showed me this Cadillac,” she said. “I said, ‘This isn’t what we’re looking for.’ It had ‘I hate you’ keyed into it. I told him, ‘I’m not interested in this, I’ll wait for that other one.’”

After the family got back into their car – parents in the front, kids in the back – a man walked up and stuck what looked like a .357 Magnum revolver through the open rear window and demanded money. Court records say the family saw “bullets in the cylinder.”

“My heart hit the floor,” Bowman said. “My husband said, ‘Punch it,’” she said, but their car was blocked in and they couldn’t escape. “My son said, ‘I just got jacked.’ Nothing like this has ever happened to us before.”

The gunman made off with $4,400 in cash Bowman’s son had under his thigh. The car they’d hoped to buy was to have been for him.

Finally, they were able to make their way down unfamiliar streets, eventually stopping at a day care, where they called police.

During interviews with police, Bowman’s 11-year-old daughter said, “Mommy, I got the three numbers of the license plate” of the car they had followed from the original meeting location, Bowman said.

The partial plate led police to Bobby Joe Ezra Plain, 21. Three of the Bowmans identified him from a photo lineup as being involved in the robbery, court records say. Further investigation led police to Lashad Tierre Alexander, 20, whom authorities believe was “Shawn.” One family member positively identified him from a photo lineup.

There is still a third suspect at large.