TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: child trafficking

  • craigslist child prostitution in the Bay Area

    craigslist child prostitution in the Bay Area

    Technology helps fuel ‘pimping’ of young girls:

    This is a very powerful article about a case of child prostitution in the Bay Area that was in part facilitated by craigslist.

    I would do the story and its author a great injustice if I tried to either quote or summarize the story. That’s how good I think it is.

    For those of you who think that child prostitution is not happening on craigslist you need to read this article.

    And again, for those of you that think prostitution is a victimless crime, you need to read this article.

  • The victimless crime in Milwaukee

    The victimless crime in Milwaukee

    Craigslist child sex ads lead to arrests:

    A 15-year-old runaway girl from Onalaska, Wisconsin, was found in Milwaukee prostituting herself on craigslist.

    Milwaukee police found that girl’s ad on Craigslist offering oral sex and other acts. She also was advertised as working with another female whose age was not listed in the warrant. Like the 16-year-old, detectives found the Onalaska girl at the Port Motel.

    Around that time, 33 advertisements on Craigslist offered prostitution in the Milwaukee area, about half of them from the 15-year-old girl, the warrant indicates.

    Police arrested an unnamed 21-year-old male who posted the ads on craigslist for her.

    But there are no victims here right?

    Our favorite craigslist mouthpiece had this to say…

    “Our hearts go out to the victim and their family, and there is nothing more gut-wrenching to our staff than to hear Craigslist has been abused to exploit children,” said Susan MacTavish Best of Craigslist.

    Riiiiiight. If your gut is that wrenched, why does the erotic services section still exist?

    craigslist, the home of lip service.

  • craigslist CEO reacts to Conn. AG

    craigslist CEO reacts to Conn. AG

    Dipping once again into the well of craigslist’s ugly-ass blog, we come across this missive from craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster about Conn. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

    While I think AG Blumenthal is out of his ever-lovin’ mind I do want to take Mr. Buckmaster to task for a quote in his post.

    Unlike the telephone yellow pages, many newspapers, and countless websites, which for many years have profited from “erotic service” ads, craigslist derives no revenue (let alone profit) from “erotic services”, and in fact we incur significant costs in enforcing our terms of use regarding these ads.

    It’s not about the cash, Jim. It’s about the anonymity. Newspapers, phone books, etc., can easily trace back to their clients if need be. On the other hand, you can not. It’s not just about the erotic services either, at least not with me. The anonymity of craigslist allows all types of criminals to prey upon the law-abiding users of craigslist.

  • craigslist CEO on erotic services

    craigslist CEO on erotic services

    Speaking of craigslist’s ugly-ass official blog, CEO Jim Buckmaster posted this entry the other day about craigslist’s new phone verification system for their erotic services section. I have yet to check it out, but I’m sure I can find numerous ways that it can be circumvented. Anyway, he claims that it cut down on the number of erotic service ads by 80%. That’s still 20% too many. Even one instance of child prostitution or human trafficking is still too many.

    Mr. Buckmaster also said that they are looking for additional ways to eliminate criminal activity on craigslist. I’ve got two ways that would eliminate most, if not all, the crime on craigslist. Take away the anonymity and do away with the erotic services section.

    I’ll be awaiting my consultant’s check, Jim.

  • The victimless crime in Sacramento

    The victimless crime in Sacramento

    Local Woman Charged With Pimping Juveniles:

    22-year-old Felisha Mock of Sacramento, California, has been arrested for pimping out girls as young as 16 over craigslist.

    Investigators tell CBS13 that Mock set up the ring using Craigslist. The way it worked is the teenagers would allegedly solicit sex to customers, and investigators say Mock’s customers would then broker a deal over the phone getting a percentage of the sale.

    Some neighbors aren’t surprised because they say drug addiction is a big problem in this neighborhood.

    “And they need their drugs so they need to make money. They’re not going to work because they can’t pee in a cup,” says Carol.

    But they all must have entered prostitution voluntarily because people keep telling me it’s a victimless crime.

  • Teens prostituted on craigslist in Chicago

    Teens prostituted on craigslist in Chicago

    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.

  • More on Atlanta child prostitution

    More on Atlanta child prostitution

    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.

  • South Jersey pimp pleads guilty

    South Jersey pimp pleads guilty

    Pleasantville man admits prostituting minors:

    Casson Coward of Pleasantville, New Jersey was arrested back in June for pimping out two girls ages 14 and 16 from Allentown, Pa. on craigslist.

    Yesterday, Coward pleaded guilty to interstate transporting of minors for the purposes of prostitution. His partner, Kevin R. Mayfield was also arrested. Both of them are looking at 10 to life and a $250K fine.

    The so-called victimless crime continues.

  • 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”?

  • 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?