Craigslist case continued until May 7:
Today Michael John Anderson was supposed to have entered his plea in the murder of Katherine Ann Olson. He’s accused of killing her and hiding her body after she responded to a phony employment ad on craigslist placed by Anderson. However, the case has been continued until May 7th.
According to this article, the case was continued because prosecutors have requested more time to complete forensic testing.
Murder suspect in court Tuesday:
Michael John Anderson of Savage, Minnesota is scheduled to appear in court this Tuesday to enter his plea. Anderson is accused in the murder of Katherine Ann Olson. Ms. Olson answered a fake ad on craigslist placed by Anderson advertising a nannying job. When Olson arrived for the ‘interview’ Anderson allegedly killed her by shooting her in the back and then disposed of her body.
If Anderson pleads not guilty then a trial date will be set.
Craigslist Foundation Donates $1.6M To UC Berkeley:
Craigslist, the popular community networking Web site, has donated $1.6 million to the University of California, Berkeley, to help create the first endowed professorship at its 5-year-old Berkeley Center for New Media.
The mission of the center is to advance new media in the public interest, and to explore the effect of new media on culture, said engineering Professor Ken Goldberg, who was appointed director of the center in July.
I wonder how far that money would have gone towards the effort to stop the human trafficking that their site facilitates.
The other day, I received an e-mail from a woman who was being harassed on craigslist. For several months, someone was posting ads in the personal ads sections advertising for things like no strings attached sex and lesbian affairs. The ads would contain her pictures and personal information. She is very busy in her profession and didn’t have the time to flag every ad that popped up. Both her local police and craigslist were not exactly helpful. She came to me asking for assistance.
I thought about trying what little media contacts I have, but even then, craigslist doesn’t always respond. So I did some research and I found out that if you’re being harassed on craigslist like this, there is someplace you can file a complaint. My research took me to The Internet Crime Complaint Center.
The site itself talks mostly about fraud, but I e-mailed them directly, and they assured me that IC3 is the place to file complaints about craigslist harassment of this type. They also recommended filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
So even if craigslist is no help, there are places you can turn to.
I’ll keep you posted on the status of the complaint.
Excuse my language, but let me answer that question rather bluntly.
(Ahem)
Fuck no. Are you fucking stupid or something?
(straightens tie)
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get on with the article.
A local teen, Kiana, has been posting advertisements on Craigslist.
She’s offering baby-sitting and dog-sitting services, hoping to earn enough money to buy herself a puppy.
While her mother is aware of the postings, she and her daughter admit they’ve received some unusual responses from people looking for a baby-sitter.
They received at least one call from a woman on a pay phone who wanted to drop off her children without even meeting Kiana.
Police warn it is dangerous to offer baby-sitting services to strangers.
Ya think?
I mean between two websites I’ve listed a litany of reasons on why kids shouldn’t be allowed in a 12 block radius of craigslist. I’ve called MySpace the trailer park of the internet. craigslist is the windowless van of the internet.
10 charged in Internet prostitution:
Cook County Sheriff’s Department in Illinois arrested 10 members of a craigslist prostitution ring that ran in Illinois and Indiana.
Rodney “Mook” Williams, Eddie Wells and Terrance “Big T” Greenlee Jr., all of Chicago, and Gregory Key of Evergreen Park are accused of operating the prostitution ring. If convicted, they could face up to 30 years in prison.
Six women were charged with prostitution. The juveniles were questioned by police but released without being charged, officials said.
Yes, you read that right, juveniles.
The ring operated in Illinois and Indiana and involved at least 11 women, some of whom were high school freshmen and sophomores, he said.
Two of the juveniles—one from Iowa—were runaways, officials said, adding the alleged leaders recruited some women from a strip club and found others at a currency exchange.
There’s that ‘victimless’ crime again.
Man Faces Federal Charges in a Sex Ring in Minnesota:
41-year-old Liqing Liu, a Chinese national living in Minnesota, is facing federal charges of transporting women across state lines to engage in prostitution. He ran several massage parlors, some of which that advertised on craigslist, with women that were basically slaves to him…
Sgt. Grant Snyder of the Minneapolis Police Department, a lead investigator, said the women, all Chinese or Korean, were prohibited from leaving the place of business, kept under video surveillance, and had their passports and other forms of identification confiscated.
The women’s poverty, language barriers and immigration status were used against them, Sergeant Snyder said, and the authorities said they were treating the women as crime victims and not criminals.
The authorities described the patrons as mostly white upper-middle class men between 35 and 55, including doctors and business owners. They usually paid $80 a session, which the prostitutes were obligated to hand over to Mr. Liu, the police said.
The women could negotiate with customers for more money, the police said, but their earnings were marginal at best; one illegal South Korean immigrant mentioned in the criminal complaint had to pay Mr. Liu $40 a day for room and board. He booked her airfare, later deducting it from her prostitution wages, the police said.
Even if prostitution was legal, there would still be scumbags like Liu forcing women like these into sex slavery.
Grand jury hands up first-degree murder charges in Olson case:
A Minnesota grand jury handed down an indictment today of first-degree murder for 19-year-old Michael John Anderson. Anderson is accused of killing 24-year-old Katherine Ann Olson after Olson answered a phony employment ad placed by Anderson.
When Savage police interviewed Anderson, he initially denied having contact with Olson.
Anderson then admitted to being present when Olson died. He said a friend killed the woman because he “thought it would be funny.”
However, the evidence that’s been released mostly points to Anderson acting alone.
After a bloodied towel – with Anderson’s name inked on it and Olson’s smashed cell phone wrapped inside – was found in a nearby Savage park, authorities picked up Anderson from his job fueling airplanes at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. His phone number was the last one called on Olson’s phone.
Minnesota does not have the death penalty as much as this scumbag deserves it.
Teen suicide spurs war on child prostitution:
This is an article about Atlanta’s war on child prostitution. It briefly mentions craigslist and its usual denial of facilitation…
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin wrote to craigslist founder Craig Newmark and Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster in August, urging them to remove postings of women engaged in activity that broke Georgia law and called on other mayors to file similar protests.
Buckmaster said the company “shares Mayor Franklin’s concerns and are evaluating her suggestions.”
The site warns its users that it prohibits illegal activity but he added: “We do not monitor the content of more than 25 million free postings craigslist users self-publish each month.”
But I mostly wanted to point out the plight of Samantha Walker, who committed suicide after testifying against one of the men who paid to have sex with her when she was 15.
This is why I believe that craigslist needs to eliminate its erotic services section. Please read the entire article.
There are no victimless crimes.
Tigard man in court accused of Craigslist rapes:
In one of the posts, I made about accused craigslist rapist Ronald M. Leistiko, a commenter asked what kind of ad was Leistiko posting to lure these women to his house.
According to the article, he wasn’t posting ads but responding to ads…
Leistiko allegedly answered ads on Craigslist along with other Internet sites, which offered services such as lingerie modeling and escort service.
That makes this case even more disturbing, since one of his victims was 14.