TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Classifieds Crime

  • Tigard craigslist rapist sentenced

    Craigslist rapist sentenced to 25 years in prison:

    The holiday has put me behind on my postings. This actually happened last week but I’m just getting to it now.

    Anyway, one of the craigslist rapists has been sentenced to 25-years behind bars. That would be 53-year-old Ronald Marcus Leistiko of Tigard, Oregon. If you’ll recall Leistiko raped several women, mostly escorts, that he met through their craigslist ads. He also drugged up a minor to rape her as well.

    I can live with 25 years but a serial rapist like this needs to be behind bars permanently at least.

  • Palm Springs Police on prostitution

    SPECIAL REPORT: Trumping Prostitution on the Popular Craigslist Site:

    Just wanted to share with you this quote from Palm Springs, California police about craigslist’s new measures to limit activity on its erotic services section.

    Police are optimistic this will help, but they say the only way to stop the abuse completely would be for Craigslist to stop allowing “erotic services” ads.

    That’s not likely to happen.

    It seems like I remember someone else saying that too.

  • It’s just a scam to the left

    Reader Brian sent in this picture of a $3850 fake scammer check made out to everyone’s favorite character from The Rocky Horror Picture Show for a $500 cat-pee stained couch.

    check1

    Brian, you actually do win at the internets.

  • Idaho attempted rapist sentenced

    Man convicted of using iPod to lure potential rape victims sent to prison:

    You remember Stephen Newman, don’t you? He’s the guy from Idaho who tried luring women he could rape by offering them a free iPod on craigslist.

    He was convicted of attempted rape during the summer. He’s now been sentenced to 15 years and will be eligible for parole after he’s served at least half his sentence.

    Newman’s lawyer is appealing stating that there was no evidence that Newman was going to harm anyone.

    Really? Not even the ski gloves, the realistic-looking pellet gun, or the large kitchen knife? What about all the internet searches about rape and its penalties? That’s not evidence enough?

  • Attorneys to use mental defect defense in Katherine Ann Olson’s murder

    Craigslist murder suspect’s attorneys raise possibility of mental illness defense:

    I should have seen this coming yet I was still surprised.

    The attorneys for Michael John Anderson will be filing a motion stating that they might be using a mental illness defense for the murder of Katherine Ann Olson. They’re claiming that Anderson has Asperger’s syndrome. They’re basically claiming that he didn’t know the difference between right or wrong because of his Asperger’s. Last time I checked that’s not one of the effects of Asperger’s and is an insult to people who legitimately have it.

    Asperger’s patients have a hard time interacting socially because they are unable to detect things like sarcasm and some forms of humor. They also can be obsessed over a singular subject. It DOES NOT make you take an ad for a nanny job on craigslist for the sole purpose of shooting someone in the head.

    This is not the first time I’ve read about a lawyer using this defense. For the most part, this defense has been unsuccessful. If lawyers keep using this defense than people will begin to think that Asperger’s does make you criminally violent.

  • Other 2 of Idaho trio plead guilty

    Two Meridian men admit to giving meth to 15-year-old girl for sex:

    The other two-thirds of the Idaho teen prostitution and meth ring have entered guilty pleas. Previously Lindsey J. McKeehan had entered a guilty plea and was supposed to testify against the other two suspects, Colby Watson, and Douglas Winberry. Apparently, that was enough for Watson and Winberry to start looking for their own deals.

    All three suspects were alleged to have given meth to a 15-year-old girl so they could have sex with her and pimp her out on craigslist.

  • Coca-Cola name used in employment scam

    I received the following e-mail from reader Ervin about his job search on craigslist…

    I have posted my resume on Craigslist and you wouldn’t believe all the scam job offer’s that are emailed to me daily. I finally did get a local legitimate job in my field (I started today and was called by the Director of Manufacturing to interview last week). I am glad that I was able to get this job. But, these scammer’s have sunk to new lows by using the Coca-Cola name to scam people now. Were you aware of this new scam? I am going to
    paste it for you to share below.

    Thank you,
    Ervin

    Here it is:

    JOB OFFER!!!
    Monday, November 17, 2008 12:23 AM
    From:”Admin Admin”

    Dear Sir/Ma
    You’re Ref: 2810/04/TF-ATW
    Coca – Cola Company offer you the position of offshore financial manager
    ..
    This is to inform you that after critical and proper review of your new contact email address, we are please to inform you that you have met the requirements needed for the post of Payment Officer / Book Keeper with The Coca – Cola Company.

    Furthermore, Your duties as the Payment Officer / Book Keeper is to collect payments from our numerous customers within your region, process the payments, deduct 20% of the amount issued to you as your personal bonus and you transfer the rest of the funds to our main account officer whose information will be provided to you in due time.

    This Job position is Temporary and does not require a specific work time frame. All payments will be mailed directly to you via your mailing /contact address. This position became necessary when lots of payments is being received from various customers from different regions / states within the United States and Canada per day and it became very tedious to process and sort, as a result of this, the search for representatives to sort / process payments on behalf of the company became highly necessary.If you are interested in this Job offer…kindly get back with the following information written below as soon as possible:

    All respond or question should be email to the company private email
    (SOPHISTICATED15127@HOTMAIL.COM)

    FULL NAMES: _________________________________
    GENDER:_________________________________
    DATE OF BIRTH:_________________________________
    NATIONALITY:_________________________________
    COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE:___________________________
    MARITAL STATUS:_________________________________
    HOME ADDRESS (Where payment will be sent to)
    STREET:_________________________________
    CITY:_________________________________
    STATE:_________________________________
    ZIP CODE:_________________________________
    TELEPHONE NUMBER(S):___________________________
    SCAN A COPY OF YOUR DRIVERS LICENSE:___________

    Thank you very much and we anticipate your working with The Coca – Cola
    Company.

    Sincerely,
    The Coca – Cola Company Information Systems, Inc.
    Computer Systems Division
    Sam Williams.
    (+447031918592)

    They also included a website that identified Coke as being at a thecoca-colacompany URL. Coke’s actual URL is coca-cola.com. And I’m pretty sure that a major corporation like Coke wouldn’t send out an e-mail that said: “we are please to inform you.” I don’t think Coke would use Hotmail addresses either. This is just the phony check scam in a fake red and white package.

  • Reader sends in scam e-mail for Costa Mesa

    Another rental scam e-mail sent in by reader Rose. This time about a property in the Costa Mesa, California area…

    From: Andre Ulla Jose Uribe [mailto:anrdreulla@yahoo.com]

    Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 9:50 PM

    Subject: Re: $1000 / 3br – 2 bath single family home. (Canyon Cir Costa

    Mesa)

    Hello,

    Thanks for your email and interest in renting my house..I am Andre ulla,the

    owner of the house you are making inquiry of…Actually I resided in the

    house with my family, my wife and my only daughter before and presently we

    have moved out due to my transfer from my work now in Warsaw,Poland.

    Presently my house is still available for rent for $1000 USD (rent already

    includes utilities).Moreso Now, I’m currently in Lagos,Nigeria for an

    international Christian follower’s crusade.

    Please i want you to note that,i am a kind, honest and trustworthy man and

    also i spent a lot on my property that i want to give to you for rent,so i

    will solicit for your absolute maintenance of this house and want you to

    treat it as your own, It is not the money that is the main problem but i

    want you to keep it tidy all the time so that i will be glad to see it neat

    when i come for a check up.I also want you to let me have trust in you as i

    always stand on my word.This is the address of the House (**** ****** ***

    Costa Mesa, CA 92627).

    It has a dramatic entry foyer with ceramic floor. Extremely spacious rooms

    throughout with lots of big windows…nice and light! New neutral paint and

    some newer carpet..Very quiet, low traffic area. New fridge (7/07)…I

    believe its absolutely a perfect home for you and your family.Utilities

    include Water,Trash,Sewer,Gas

    SO IF YOU ARE REALLY INTERESTED I WILL WANT YOU TO FILL THE

    RENT APPLICATION FORM BELOW

    RENT APPLICATION FORM.

    FIRST NAME:__________?

    MIDDLE NAME:__________?

    LAST NAME:__________?

    PROFESSION:__________?

    PHONE:

    (CELL)PHONE__________?

    (WORK)PHONE__________?

    (HOME)PHONE__________?

    KIDS _____ (YES/NO), HOW MANY ________

    PRESENT ADDRESS: _____________________

    CITY: _______________

    STATE:______________

    ZIP CODE: ____________

    HOW LONG? ___________IF RENTING

    WHY ARE YOU LEAVING__________?

    IF THIS HOUSE IS BEING GIVEN TO YOU,

    HOW LONG DO YOU INTEND STAYING? ____________?

    WHEN DO YOU INTEND MOVING IN? ______________?

    IF YOU HAVE A PET,

    NAME OF PET: _____________?

    KIND OF PETS: _____________?

    HABITS

    DO YOU SMOKE ______________ ?

    DO YOU DRINK ______________?

    DO YOU WORK LATE NIGHT? ____?

    Looking forward to hearing from you with all this details so that i can

    have it in my file in case of issuing the receipt for you and contacting

    you…Await your urgent reply so that we can discuss on how to get the

    document and the keys to you,please we are giving you all this based on

    trust and again i will want you to stick to your words,you know that we have

    not seen yet and only putting everything into Gods hands,so please do not

    let us down in this our property and God bless you more as you do this…

    The house is available for rent at the moment so you are free to move in as

    soon as you wish to…A Deposit of $1000 (which happens to be the first

    months rent) is required before moving in…Feel free to call me for more

    information and arrangements on how to get the keys and other necessary

    documents delivered to you…my number is (+2347084066248 or

    0112347084066248).The house will be available for rent for a period of 4

    years so you have a choice of deciding how long you intend staying there…

    God Bless,

    Andre Ulla.

    This one is right out of the Nigerian handbook. Warsaw, Nigeria, Christian missionary, all the usual red flags.

    I wonder if scam rental ads outnumber the real ones yet on craigslist.

  • craigslist gets BBB’s lowest rating

    Craigslist tops BBB warning list:

    One of the Indiana chapters of the Better Business Bureau just gave a ratings smackdown to our favorite online classifieds.

    “Craigslist has the BBB’s lowest rating, because they are not responding, not taking care of their customers,” said BBB President Linda Carmondy.

    The site has set it up to protect their interests, but not necessarily the customers.

    I get a lot of e-mails where people say they contacted craigslist about their issue and never heard back. That’s more of the rule than the exception.

    Eventually, craigslist will degenerate into nothing but blithering idiots posting in the rants and raves section, stolen merchandise, and of course prostitution. If craigslist doesn’t do anything to correct the problems they may not have any legitimate users in the future.

  • Canadian craigslist murder?

    Police locate 2nd man allegedly lured to Edmonton garage:

    I’m sure a lot of you have heard about the murder of John Brian Altinger. In October he was lured to the garage of Edmonton filmmaker Mark Andrew Twitchell where it’s alleged that Twitchell stabbed Altinger to death.

    The reason the murder made headlines outside of Canada is Twitchell was a fan of the TV show Dexter which focuses on a forensic worker who is also a vigilante serial killer.

    It’s alleged that Altinger was lured to his death under the pretense that he was about to meet a woman.

    What none of the media are telling us is that according to a blogger at Smut and Steff who knew Altinger is that the site he met the ‘woman’ over was craigslist.

    That would make the third confirmed murder where craigslist was involved in some way.