California ‘haven’ youth in home state:
The 14-year-old from Davis, California who was dropped off by his foster Breeder in Nebraska is returning to California.
He’s now under the custody of his local social services department. That makes me wonder if his foster Breeder actually tried to find assistance within her community or was driving 1,170 miles to Nebraska her first choice.
Yolo Mom Who Abandoned Boy In Nebraska Speaks Out:
The Breeder who did drive the 1,170 miles from California to Nebraska is trying to defend her actions in the media.
The 14-year-old was her foster child who she’s had since he was 4. According to her recently he had gotten into drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, and stealing. She also says that he threatened her and her family with knives and was thrown out of a boys’ home for statutory rape. All of this sounds oddly familiar. How can a 14-year-old be charged with statutory rape?
She claims she tried to get the police to arrest him but they told her that juvenile hall was full.
So what do you think dear readers? Legitimate use of Nebraska’s old safe haven laws or a cop-out?
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.
Safe Haven Child Dropped Off Before Change:
A Breeder from Yolo, County, California was able to sneak in under the buzzer and dump off a 14-year-old boy at a Kimball, Nebraska hospital. For those of you keeping score that’s 1,170 miles if traveling by car.
The Breeder who dropped him just barely made it in before the new law limiting safe haven drop offs to under 30 days old. The boy was dropped off on Friday and the new law went into effect Saturday at Midnight.
Again I say if these Breeders put half the effort into raising their kids that they did in dumping them off maybe they wouldn’t have had a problem.
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.
Santa Clara County jury convicts Craigslist attacker:
26-year-old Kanari Nelson of San Jose, California was convicted yesterday for the assault and rapes of various craigslist prostitutes. He’s looking at a max of 200 years behind bars. That’s not a misprint. He could be sentenced up to 2 centuries.
Let’s hear from the D.A.
“Anytime this guy wanted to sexually assault somebody, he just had to go online and pick from a menu,” said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney James Leonard, who won the case.
Craigslist, of course, had no comment but their mouthpiece, Susan MacTavish Best, said there would be a significant announcement about that topic today. I’m all a-flutter wondering what that announcement might be. You don’t think it could be *gasp* that they’re eliminating the erotic services section? Nah. They’d never do that no matter how many women get raped.
N. Calif. Called Craigslist Crime ‘Hotspot’:
This was an interview I did with TV station KCRA in Sacramento, California about violent crimes and craigslist. Yes, I know they call me Trent Reynolds. That’s more TV friendly than Trench. It’s not like either of those are my real name anyway so there you have it.
I thought I would be going head to head with Jim Buckmaster himself but that turned out not to be. I would have loved to have had that opportunity.
First, let me brag about my one and only quote in the article…
Crimes such as stolen items for sale, offers of prostitution and money fraud are much more common. A clearing house for these crimes is found on the Web site thetrenchcoat.com — a site where victims can share their Craigslist horror stories.
“I see more crimes reported on the West Coast and in the Pacific Northwest. The big hotspots would be in Northern California,” site developer Trent Reynolds said.
The area is a Craigslist fan base: The site was born just down the road in San Francisco, and Northern California’s in turn use it more and are more likely to become victims.
It’s true. Violent crimes like armed robbery are rarer on craigslist than prostitution and fraud but that doesn’t make it any less of an issue. And Northern California is the epicenter of craigslist related crime since that’s where the site got its start and people have been using it longer there than anywhere else.
Now let’s hear from craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster…
According to Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist, the percentage of postings that end in significant crimes is low when compared with the legitimate use of the site.
Buckmaster claimed Craigslist is unable to track the number of crimes involving the site. He said the task would be daunting, pointing to the 50 million monthly users, 35 million listings and 12 billion monthly pageviews.
“The incidence is not zero. We’d like it be zero, but it’s not zero,” Buckmaster said.
It’s definitely not zero but like I said it’s a large enough number to cause concern yet Mr. Buckmaaster just washes his hands of it and refuses to do anything to protect his userbase.
User profiles, while not a perfect solution, would go a long way to discouraging a lot of crime on craigslist. So would eliminating the erotic services section. Two things that craigslist is not considering. So anonymous crime will continue unabated on craigslist. Eventually, people will get so fed up with it they’ll move on to other sites and then the big wigs at craigslist will wonder what happened.
Again, how have they not hired me as a consultant? I’m not above selling out to the man. craigslist and its users see themselves as going against the grain but in reality, they’re just another corporation hence they are ‘the man’.
I got the following e-mail from Christa who was looking for an apartment on Craigslist…
I’m 20 years old and this is the first time I began searching for apartments. When I saw an ad that looked too good to be true- I hesitated but gave the guy the benefit of the doubt and emailed him. This was his exact response:
“Hello. We are so much excited. My name is Mcgrath Garrett the owner of the apartment and also want you to know that it was due to my transfer that makes me and my wife and little daughter to leave the apartment and also want to give it out for rent and looking for a responsible person that can take very good care of it while we are not at the state as we are not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean at the time and the person that will rent it to take it as if it were its own. So for now, we are here in West Africa, our new house and put all my worries off concerning the maintenance of the apartment for, since i am not residing there for now. I left behind some Facilities and electonics which include the rent, DVD player, air conditioning, alarm system. The kitchen is fully equipped with all necessary cooking utensils, refrigerator-freezer, four-hob and oven, microwave, dishwasher and washing machine, my computer connected with Internet access also the keys and document of the apartment are right here with us in West Africa, and the lease document. Which i can send to you after all necessary agreement has been accepted. Also i will like you to know that the rent charges is not really the issue, hope you are okay with the price of $900 per month including utilities like hydro, water, gas, heat laundry facilities, air condition and so on, but your absolute maintenance of my apartment is most important thing, if you are really interested in renting this apartment get back to me so that i can forward you an application form for you to fill so that i can start all necesary arrangement asap.
Here is the apartment address : (California address)
…. Pls note that you will be viewing the apartment from outside only and 100 % sure that you would love to stay in the place because it is locatedin a very cool, quiet and safe neigbourhood. There was a man who want to rent my apartment his name was Mr Daniel called me about the apartment, i told him that I can’t give him the apartment because he loves smoking, drinking and dont want him to get drunked and damaged my property one day so If you are still interested, no extra fees. I will like you to give me a call at (foreign number) or (other foreign number) on this effect to know how serious you are. I personally will actually come visiting you sometimes during the year as our new tenant. Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file in case of issueing the receipt for you and contacting you. Awaiting your reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the keys of the apartment to you. “
I soon googled the e-mail and the only response was for a rental fraud website. I want to make sure this story gets posted because it might help a stupid person from making an even more stupid decision of sending money.
Thanks for your time 🙂
Thank you, Christa, for sending this in. It gives one more fake scammer name to post.