TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Classifieds Crime

  • Prostitution in Atlanta

    Prostitution in Atlanta

    Oldest Profession Has Young Victims, New Methods: Ann Woolner:

    This is a great article about Atlanta’s perceived problem with child prostitution and what police are doing to combat it. Of course, craigslist is brought into the conversation because Mayor Shirley Franklin previously called craigslist on the carpet for facilitating child prostitution.

    The author of the article, Ann Woolner, tried to contact craigslist about this and was met with the usual response.

    I tried to contact craigslist Chief Executive Officer Jim Buckmaster to ask whether he had instituted any reforms since Franklin wrote him in August seeking closer monitoring, more stringent warnings and a tougher attitude toward those who advertise illegal services or otherwise break the Web site’s rules. Questions e-mailed to a press contact for Buckmaster weren’t answered.

    How long will craigslist continue to stick its fingers in its ears and go “LALALALALALALALALALALALA I’M NOT LISTENING”?

  • Family fun on craigslist

    Family fun on craigslist

    Craigslist.org a source of crimes:

    It seems that other news outlets are picking up on how much crime goes on through craigslist. This is an article from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette that relates at least one story that I missed.

    But sometimes, the questionable listings aren’t flagged — for instance, the one police say Brian Lee Nestor posted back in September.

    According to an affidavit filed in his case in federal court, Mr. Nestor, 44, of Squirrel Hill, put a listing under Craigslist’s “Casual Encounters” section.

    It read: “Anybody into family fun?” followed by, “bring your son and hang out with us.”

    A Greensburg police officer who handles computer crimes for the jurisdiction found the ad on Sept. 9.

    He responded to the posting, saying that “Family fun sounds great, reply with age, limits, a photo would be great.”

    The police officer and Mr. Nestor corresponded through e-mail for several days. According to the affidavit, Mr. Nestor, who also solicited child pornography, became frustrated: “Look I’m tired of these endless e-mails. … I’m just looking to get with a boy discreetly.”

    In one exchange, Mr. Nestor, who was previously investigated by the FBI but not charged for having thousands of images of child pornography on his computer, wrote that when they met, the two men would have to expose themselves to each other to ensure that neither was a cop.

    He was arrested Sept. 14 and charged with coercion and enticement, as well as possession of child pornography. Mr. Nestor’s arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday.

    So let’s add pedophilia and child molestation to the list of things that craigslist is helping to facilitate. craigslist’s mouthpiece Susan MacTavish Best had the usual to say…

    …inappropriate ads…flagged by users…blah blah blah…

    But I may be paraphrasing.

    A lot of people think that newspapers, or old media if you will, have a vendetta against craigslist since they’ve taken a big chunk out of their newspaper’s revenue by not charging for classifieds. That may be true, but doesn’t old media still have a responsibility to report the news? And this my friends, is news that more people should be seeing.

  • More Tarheel shenanigans in the Big Apple

    More Tarheel shenanigans in the Big Apple

    Craigslist pimp from Queens busted:

    Carlton “Privilege” Simons, 25, of Queens, and Shernett “Divine” Reevey, 24, of Charlotte, N.C., were convicted late Friday of luring the teenage student from her home with promises of money and introductions to rap celebrities.

    Once in New York, however, the 18-year-old woman was physically and verbally abused, forced to pose for provocative photographs later posted to Craigslist and to prostitute herself at hotels and at a “track,” or a location frequented by sex workers and their customers from Lexington to Park Avenue on 48th Street.

    Still think prostitution is a victimless crime?

  • craigslist denies child prostitution facilitation

    craigslist denies child prostitution facilitation

    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 it 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?

  • Busting the safety myth

    Busting the safety myth

    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 citywide garage sale aren’t going into the erotic services section. And the people who are sure as hell aren’t going to flag any ads.

  • Sobering stats

    Sobering stats

    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.

  • Suspect in Donna Jou’s disappearance, arrested again

    Suspect in Donna Jou’s disappearance, arrested again

    Suspect in disappearance arrested:

    Convicted sex offender and the last man seen with Donna Jou alive, John Steven Burgess, has been arrested yet again. For those of you who don’t know, Donna Jou met Burgess on craigslist and went on a date with him and that was the last time she was seen. He was last arrested for failing to report as a sex offender.

    Now he’s been arrested for using a fake ID to steal DVDs from a Jacksonville, Florida Blockbuster.

    Since Donna Jou has not been found, authorities are still unable to file charges against Burgess for Jou’s disappearance.

  • More on craigslist trafficking

    More on craigslist trafficking

    Web driving human trafficking:

    Our favorite website has been mentioned in the same breath as human trafficking once again.

    There was a human trafficking conference in Minnesota and this is what someone in the know had to say.

    Heather Weyker, a 10-year veteran of the St. Paul Police Department, had this to say.

    “We’re on Craig’s List constantly, looking for girls who look young,” Weyker said at the conference, describing the popular online classifieds site. “They always have captors. How many 13-year-old girls think, ‘Hey, I think I’ll put myself on Craig’s List.”‘

    And this is what you’re supporting when you use a craigslist or any other kind of prostitute.

    They don’t have the option to quit their “work” without suffering physical or sexual punishment, conference participants said. They can’t even walk out the door unaccompanied by one of their captors.

    “We’re not just talking about illegal aliens or about people who are disadvantaged,” said U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose. “These are also girls from the suburbs. It can affect anyone.”

    Victimless crime, my ass.

  • Boston juvenile prostitute

    Boston juvenile prostitute

    Link (Second story down)

    A Braintree man is in hot water after allegedly pimping a young girl on the Internet, police say.

    According to the police report, the girl advertised herself as a prostitute on Craigslist. Police set up a sting to apprehend her.

    A plainclothes cop met the girl on West Seventh Street Tuesday morning, and noticed she was accompanied by two males who waited for her in a car.

    The juvenile allegedly offered to provide sex to an undercover officer for $175. After agreeing to the price, the cop placed the girl under arrest for prostitution while nearby cops confronted her companions.

    Joseph Venezia of Braintree was charged with deriving support from prostitution, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and driving with a suspended license.

    Damon Isles of Charlestown, the passenger, was arrested on drug charges, police said.

    But it’s a victimless crime and these girls want to be prostitutes right? Give me a break.

  • Runaway teens pimped out on craigslist

    Runaway teens pimped out on craigslist

    Police: Runaway NW teens forced into selling sex on Craigslist:

    Here are some more of those victims that prostitution supposedly doesn’t have…

    The case of a runaway Beaverton girl led to a string of arrests in an Internet prostitution investigation over the past three months.

    The case netted several arrests and runaway teens from the Northwest between May and the end of August, according to Beaverton Police.

    Detectives following the report in May of a runaway 15-year-old from Beaverton were led to Los Angeles, where they found the missing girl with 25-year-old Deandre Travon Green of Aloha. Investigators said Green had forced the girl into prostitution through the L.A. Craigslist Web site.

    Information developed in the case led officers to the Extended Stay Hotel on Eider Ct. in August. There they found a 21-year-old woman and a 16-year-old reported runaway from Seattle, both were charged with prostitution, police said.

    A week later, detectives found two girls reported as runaways from Portland and Gresham. The 15- and 17- year-old girls were arrested along with 22-year-old Quentin G. Lewis, who was charged with possession of crack and outstanding warrants.

    But I’m sure the 15-17-year-olds wanted to be prostitutes, right?

    Give me a break.