TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: craigslist

  • What to do when your stuff is stolen

    In the past year, one of the most common questions I get is “My (insert name of item here) has been stolen and placed on craigslist. What do I do?” That answer is a very simple one. Call your local police and enlist their help.

    I know there have been stories on here where citizens have taken matters into their own hands and have been successful in getting their stuff back but I do not recommend that. It only takes a split second for a situation like that to turn into a tragic one.

    Please leave law enforcement in the hands of professionals.

  • Here’s to you iPod offering craigslist rapist guy

    Ada County jury finds man guilty of attempted rape after posting Craigslist ad offering free iPod:

    Our favorite iPod offering would be Idaho craigslist rapist, Stephen Newman, was found guilty of attempted rape.

    It seems the Newman had a predilection for rape as he would take videos of himself and an ‘actress’ who would pretend to be raped. Not to mention the fact the items he was found with.

    The jury only deliberated for three hours.

    No word on when sentencing will be yet.

  • Would be craigslist rapist on trial

    Prosecutors say Meridian man intended rape:

    Last July 33-year-old Stephen Newman of Meridian, Idaho was arrested for attempted rape last July. he is accused of placing an ad on craigslist for a free iPod then laid in wait for the woman who responded to the ad.

    Luckily the woman was smart enough to smell some kind of scam. The woman followed the instructions given to her by the ‘seller’ which led them to a porta-potty outside of a park where a man just happened to be lying in wait.

    Officers say they found Newman wearing a black stocking cap, and they also found a knife, BB gun and ski gloves.

    Police seized a laptop in Newman’s SUV which later was found to contain home movies that prosecutors say showed Newman having sex with a woman who was pretending that she was being raped by him.

    His defense is that he was playing a prank. You want a prank? Here’s one. SURPRISE!!! You’re going to jail.

  • craigslist child pimp sentenced

    Man gets 8 years, took girl to DC for prostitution:

    30-year-old Levar Simms of Washington D.C. was sentenced to 8 years behind bars on federal charges of being a craigslist pimp. They actually called it interstate transportation of a minor for the purpose of prostitution but my way is more to the point. so not only was he a craigslist pimp but he was a craigslist pimp of a child prostitute.

    Simms met the 16-year-old girl outside of a shelter in Greensboro, NC and then forced her into prostitution.

    8 years is a joke for a scumbag like this. As far as I’m concerned pimping out kids should carry a mandatory life sentence.

  • craigslist denies responsibility again

    Cops trail Craigslist ads to sex offenders:

    This is an article from The Tennessean about craigslist prostitution in their area. Nothing new that hasn’t been covered before. But once again craigslist is paying nothing but lip service to the actual problem. Once again let’s hear from craigslist’s mouthpiece Susan MacTavish Best.

    Susan MacTavish Best, a Craigslist spokeswoman, says the misuse of the site for illegal purposes is unacceptable and that a series of new measures is being undertaken to reduce the number of erotic services ads by at least 80 percent.

    “Unlike the weekly newspapers, telephone yellow pages and numerous websites large and small that make a profitable business out of ‘erotic services’ ads,” she wrote in an e-mail, “Craigslist earns no revenue whatsoever from such ads.”

    Again I say if it’s so unacceptable to craigslist why don’t they do away with the erotic services section? Personally, I think that newspapers and phone books shouldn’t be advertising for hookers either but at least with those mediums a paper trail is left if an investigation is warranted. A paper trail is a lot easier to follow than an electronic one. Out of all the times that you claim to assist law enforcement how many illegal acts on craigslist have gone unchecked? It’s almost like craigslist is proud of the fact that they help facilitate prostitution and child prostitution.

    The fact that they claim they have no responsibility in such matters is a joke.

    So Ms. Best, are you proud of what craigslist does?

  • Human trafficking in El Dorado Hills

    El Dorado Man Charged With Sex Trafficking:

    23-year-old Rishi Sanwal was arrested on Monday on charges of sex trafficking. Sanwal was allegedly prostituting a missing teen from El Dorado Hills, California. After the teen disappeared she called a friend. Police were able to use the caller ID to trace the number back to some hooker ads placed on craigslist.

    Undercover cops set up a meeting and were able to rescue the teen and arrest Sanwal.

    So a teenage girl being held against her will and prostituted couldn’t possibly be considered a victim could she?

  • Child prostitution in Downers Grove

    Bolingbrook men plead not guilty to juvenile pimping charge:

    While we’re on the subject of child prostitution, because we were, comes this story from Downers Grove, Illinois.

    Downers Grove police arrested 20-year-old Brandon Spain and 22-year-old Ivan Atilano on charges of juvenile pimping. The pair was arrested on June 2nd during a craigslist prostitution sting in which police found out that the two of them collected money from a 16-year-old girl that they were allegedly prostituting.

    The girl was a runaway they were harboring. I’m sure there’s no way that she can be considered a victim right?

  • CNN on craigslist child prostitution

    Child prostitutes sell themselves on Craigslist:

    This is the best article yet that I’ve read on the problem of child prostitution on craigslist. I’m not going to quote the meat of the article because this is one of those articles that needs to be read in its entirety.

    However, I will quote a part where craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster thinks he’s part of the solution instead of part of the problem…

    Craigslist executives said they abhor the fact that their site is being used for child prostitution but believe that the problem could be harder to track if they removed the category.

    “It would be a bigger problem if we removed that category and had those ads spread throughout the site,” said Jim Buckmaster, chief executive officer of Craigslist.

    Really Jim? If you shut down the erotic services section of craigslist where would these ads go? Used cars? Furniture? Pets? Real Estate? You mean the places where people who don’t use hookers would actually see the ads and actually flag them? Horrors, we can’t have that now can we Jim?

    Prostitution and child prostitution is on the rise because of craigslist. Yes, there are other sites out there that cater to this kind of depravity but in my opinion, craigslist is the #1 offender. What’s it going to take Jim before you eliminate the erotic services section? I mean there have already been rapes, robberies, and shootings.

    For a website that flaunts how socially responsible it is, it doesn’t seem to be putting its words into action.

  • Idaho trio prostituted teen

    Three ID residents charged in underage sex case:

    36-year-old Colby Watson, his girlfriend 23-year-old Lindsey J. McKeehan, and 50-year-old Douglas A. Winberry, all from Idaho, have been arrested on charges of having sex with a girl under the age of 16 and for prostituting her out on craigslist.

    Police said they received a tip on June 19 that Winberry had pictures of the girl in various sexual poses. A search of his home produced evidence he had sex with the girl and that he advertised her for prostitution on Craigslist, police said.

    The investigation led to photo and video evidence of Watson and McKeehan engaging in sexual acts with the girl, and evidence that they also advertised the girl on Craigslist for prostitution, police said.

    Alas, no mugshots. I’d be curious to see what this freakshow looked like. I bet it wasn’t pretty.

    So a girl under 16 is molested, photographed, and pimped out yet some people would like you to believe that she’s not a victim.

  • NY politician calls for craigslist crackdown

    Pol calls for Craigslist prostitution bust:

    A New York City politician has called on the NYPD to crack down on craigslist’s erotic services section. City Councilman Eric Gioia called a press conference yesterday likening craigslist to the wild west.

    What used to happen on seedy street corners and brothels has moved to the Internet,”

    Gioia and his staff conducted an investigation of the top 100 listings on the erotic services section for about three weeks and found that 85 percent of the ads seemed to be advertising illicit activities. The councilman said some of the ads used vague wording to offer paid sexual acts, such as “companionship” for “a generous donation.”

    “They’re pretty obvious,” Gioia said. “It’s high time that law enforcement in New York take a hard look at what’s happening.”

    The NYPD had no response and craigslist had their usual ‘we’re doing everything to help law enforcement except taking the erotic services section down’ excuse…

    A Craigslist spokeswoman said the site recently implemented new measures that reduced the number of erotic services ads by 80 percent, and other improvements have eliminated a high percentage of other objectionable content.

    “The misuse of Craigslist for illegal purposes is completely unacceptable to us and we are continuously devising new means of detecting and blocking such activity,” spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best said in an e-mailed statement.

    Again, if it was so unacceptable they’d do away with the section.