This is a new one on me since people who place employment ads with craigslist have to actually pay for the ad. I guess you can’t even trust employment ads on the internet’s hive of scum and villainy.
PHILADELPHIA — A Conshohocken woman said she was just looking for work when an online ad on Craigslist caught her eye.
Aleshia Endy, 22, said she now hopes police catch the man who ran the ad.
“I thought it was a legit position. I really thought it was something, but now I’m grossed out,” Endy said.
Endy said the job ad on the nationwide Web site, Craigslist.com, appeared to be perfect for her.
“I responded to it, said apply for personal assistant/office manager, so I sent my picture and resume,” Endy said.
Endy said she later found out that when the author wrote “female preferred” and “obey instructions” in the ad, he meant it.
After responding to the ad, Endy called her potential employer, Eber Devine.
Endy said Devine told her he was moving from one office to another, so he wanted to set up the interview at the University of Pennsylvania campus at the Van Pelt Library.
“He met me outside. We went upstairs to where there’s, like, conference rooms,” Endy said.
Endy said, at first, everything seemed fine. She filled out an application and agreed to a background check, and he promised her a generous salary.
But right in the middle of the interview came the shocker.
“He told me, ‘I want you to stand up. Go walk around the room. Go stand in the corner. I want to look at your ass,’” Endy said.
Endy said she told him no, and when she started to walk away it became uncomfortable.
“He stood up. He came over and started touching my shoulders and my chest and got real close and started breathing on me heavily,” Endy said.
Endy said she pushed him away and left, but Devine had Endy’s cell phone number from the application and apparently was not finished talking.
“Yeah, Aleshia, I think you are an excellent candidate,” one message said.
“He called me about six times. I have it in my call log,” Endy said.
Endy contacted the NBC 10 Investigators and the police.
NBC 10’s Harry Hairston started looking into Devine’s background and found pages and pages of court records.
Court documents show Devine’s criminal history goes back as far as 1986.
NBC 10’s investigation turned up five different mug shots, some of which were taken between 2002 and December 2006.
The self-proclaimed CEO also has a laundry list of guilty pleas.
Records show he pleaded guilty to theft of leased property, unlawful use of a computer, forgery, and criminal conspiracy.
NBC 10 went to Devine’s Philadelphia home. The 38-year-old self-styled entrepreneur lives with his father.
Hairston asked Devine’s father if he knew anything about the ad on Craigslist.
“That’s something he’s doing. He’s a grown man. I don’t know anything about it,” Devine’s father said.
Hours after the visit, Devine called NBC 10. He wouldn’t go on camera, but he did admit to placing the ad on Craigslist, claiming to be the CEO of his own company and interviewing Endy.
Devine denies anything inappropriate happened during the interview,
That may be for a court to decide. The district attorney’s Office has issued a warrant for his arrest.
He’s facing charges of sexual harassment, false imprisonment, indecent assault, unlawful restraint and burglary.
“I just want him off the streets. I want the women out there to know what kind of person he is. I want him off the streets,” Endy said.
Police said they are looking for Devine.
And a spokeperson for Craigslist said illegal activity is forbidden on Craigslist by the company’s terms of use, and is not welcome on the site.
I can almost see the craigslist spokesperson winking as they say that.