TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: prostitution

  • Buckmaster: No amount of criminal activity is acceptable

    Craigslist gets strict on erotic listings:

    This is another article about the alleged craigslist crackdown on prostitution.

    One of the problems with craigslist that it shows that the people who are flagging the ads in the erotic services section are competing ‘escorts’. How’s that user policing working out?

    The other thing is yet another quote from craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster and his alleged disdain for criminal activity…

    Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster said preventing site misuse and improving public safety is the company’s highest priority.

    “The incidence of crime on Craigslist is actually exceedingly low, considering the tens of millions of legitimate ads posted each month by well-intentioned users,” Buckmaster said. “But no amount of criminal activity is acceptable, and as Craigslist has grown, we have become aware of instances where our free services were being misused to facilitate illegal activities.”

    You’ve become aware? That sounds like you’ve just found out about it. I know someone who has been following the criminal activity on your site for almost 3 years. And if the crime on craigslist is so unacceptable why haven’t you taken any real measures to curb it?

    Just more lip service.

  • Has craigslist cleaned up?

    Cleaning up Craigslist:

    TV station WTNH from New Haven, Conn. thought it would see if craigslist new measures to limit erotic services ads has had any effect. Basically, it hasn’t.

    They also talked to Ray Bechard, the founder of Ahava Kids which help rescues Connecticut kids from prostitution. He had something familiar to say.

    “Well, here’s what I don’t understand — Craigslist has on its website, under services, a category called ‘erotic’ — if they just removed that, the problem would be mostly solved,” Bechard said.

    What a novel concept. I wonder why no one has said this before. Oh wait, they have, it was me.

    craigslist won’t do it because of all the traffic it brings to their site.

  • 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.

  • Riverview, FL pimp arrested

    Man used Craigslist for prostitution, deputies say:

    47-year-old Ronald J. Zappia of Riverview, Florida was arrested for being a craigslist pimp. One of his girls dimed him out to police when she got caught in a craigslist sting.

  • Brutal craigslist pimp arrested

    Brooklyn man accused of sex trafficking:

    Meanwhile, we still have other crimes to clear out of my inbox.

    24-year-old Jamali Brockett of Brooklyn, New York has been arrested on federal charges of sex trafficking. He allegedly pimped out girls on craigslist ranging in age from 15 to 20 along the Eastern Seaboard. He would take the girls’ money and pay for their food clothes and shelter. He sexually assaulted them and would threaten them into not leaving his employ.

    Let’s hear from the U.S. District Attorney…

    At a brief court appearance yesterday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Pam Chen called Brockett, also known as “Marley,” “King” and “Daddy,” a “menace to society, who preyed upon young women for his own profit and sexual gratification.”

    I guess his girls wouldn’t be considered victims, would they?

  • craigslist prostitution on South Shore

    Prostitution thrives online on South Shore:

    This is just an article about how craigslist prostitution has taken hold on the South Shore of Massachusetts. I just wanted to post a quote from one police officer in the article…

    “For the last few years, I haven’t come across a prostitution case where (craigslist) wasn’t involved somewhere,” said Sgt. Richard Fuller of Weymouth, where police check the site two to three times a week.

    I guess that self-policing by craigslist users is really on the rise.

  • 13 johns busted in FL craigslist sting

    Teacher Among 13 Arrested In Polk Prostitution Sting:

    The Polk County, Florida Sheriff’s Department arrested 13 johns in a craigslist prostitution sting. One of those arrested was a local school teacher. He got singled out in the article because of his job yet they made no mention of the occupations of the other 12 arrested.

    The guys that should go out now and buy lottery tickets because they’re that damn lucky are these two…

    Two men came to the house but changed their minds and left without going inside. They were not arrested, Judd said.

    You don’t get much luckier than that.

  • Obvious headline of the day

    Craigslist is hotbed of online prostitution:

    Actually, this is a great article from the Knoxville News Sentinel that looks at craigslist prostitution from the police side and the side of the slimy pimps.

    However, the article mentions one thing that one former reader touched on before, the alleged disclaimers that craigslist pimps and hookers put on their ads.

    Advertisements on Craigslist that feature suggestive language and photographs often also feature a disclaimer. Several on the Knoxville site read:

    “Money exchanged is for my time and companionship services only. Anything else that may or may not occur is a matter of personal choice between two consenting adults of legal age and is not contracted for, nor is it requested to be contracted for any other matter.

    “This is not an offer of prostitution and calling me constitutes acceptance of these terms.”

    Of course, police have the same opinion of them as I do…

    “That’s baloney,” said Greg Norris of the Johnson City department, explaining that if a sex act occurs and money is exchanged, such statements about “matters of personal choice between two consenting adults” don’t hold up in court.

    I hope our friend in the assless chaps is still reading.

  • Fertile craigslist pimp sentenced

    Everett man gets 26-year prison term for pimping:

    Do you remember Washington state pimp, Jerome Todd? He was the one who was pimping out women on craigslist so he could pay child support to 13 Children by 8 different mothers if my memory serves me correct.

    Now he’s got 3 more dependents. A judge ordered him to pay $70K to the three women he was pimping out. Plus a pesky 26 years behind bars.

  • We get letters (It’s a long one)

    I got some interesting e-mails and comments over the weekend about my stance that craigslist should eliminate its erotic services section. Let’s start with the long boring one from a male craigslist ‘escort’.

    Since your blog makes it perfectly clear you can do a better job of discerning what are “legal” or “illegal” services offered in the erotic services section of craigslist, I challenge you to the following test: I will provide you with the legal statue of the state in which I work, the content of my ad, and a synopsis of what is discussed with a client before

    services are delivered. Your task will be post that same information & then an explanation of how it qualifies under the state statute as illegal activity WITHOUT relying on conjecture and presumptions. Are you up to the challenge? We’ll see….

    1. STATE LAW: Prostitution is performing for hire, or offering or agreeing to perform for hire where there is an exchange of value, any of the following acts: Sexual intercourse; sodomy; or manual or other bodily contact stimulation of the genitals of any person with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desires of the offender or another.

    2. CRAIGSLIST AD: Interactive, Sensual, Satisfying, Massage PLUS – m4m Much-deserved, much-needed, and completely satisfying sensual massage. Former USArmy – 5’8″ husky & masculine — tattooed/hairy arms & legs — Just a real guy for your very real pleasure. Interaction Welcome.

    Special Attention given to Mature Men, but all ages (18+) welcome. Older? – Fully Appreciated & Respected Bearish, Hairy or Chubby? – All body types accepted Straight/Curious? – Your Limits Completely Respected Married? – DDF, Safe, Clean & Absolutely Discreet

    ###-###-#### – EMAIL, TXTMSG or CALL for APPT

    Available MOST WEEKDAYS after 5PM….or ANYTIME Saturdays & Sundays

    INCALL: $60.00/hr; Home or Hotel Outcall: $80.00

    3. UPON CLIENT ARRIVAL: There is never any discussion of sex or sexual acts of any kind for payment.

    Client is asked whether he agrees to the “Terms of Service” presented in large-type which read, “This is not an offer of prostitution and no fees will ever be solicited or accepted for illegal activity. I AGREE that money exchanged in legal adult recreational services if only for time,

    companionship, and general/non-therapeutic massage. I AGREE that anything else that may or may not happen is a matter of personal choice and personal preference between two or more consenting adults of legal age and is not expected or included in the services provided for fee. I AGREE that the services provided for fee do not in any way include or relate to performing for hire, or offering or agreesing to perform for hire where there is an exchange of value, any of the following acts: sexual intercourse; sodomy; or manual or other bodily contact stimulation of the genitals of any person with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desires of that person or

    another.”

    4. SERVICES DELIVERED: As stated in the ad….massage.

    5. SESSION ENDED: Clients pays (and hopefully tips).

    FROM THE ABOVE INFORMATION ONLY can you explain how anything illegal has been offered or has taken place?? If you can’t, I bet you won’t have the guts to post it on your blog. Have fun!

    You’re right. I can’t say with 100% certainty whether or not your services are illegal or not without actually using your services, which I wouldn’t but that’s just my personal preference.

    However, if I were law enforcement in your community your ad would definitely draw my attention.

    Buzzwords like Massage PLUS are a tip-off. The fact that you posted the typical escort ‘this is not prostitution..blah blah blah, would lead me to believe that’s exactly what it is. Not to mention when you posted I AGREE that anything else that may or may not happen is a matter of personal choice and personal preference between two or more consenting adults of legal age and is not expected or included in the services provided for a fee also leads me to believe you’re offering an illegal service. You know that argument never holds up in court right?

    If your massages are so legitimate then why are they posted in the erotic services section? Do you have a professional massage license in your state? Have you ever been arrested for your ‘massages’?

    The next I received as a comment on my post about Jon who was harassed by the ‘hobbyists’ of the erotic services section for flagging ads…

    So you’ve got nothing better to do than this, huh? I have no problem with you having your own religious morals. Just don’t try and force them down my throat!

    If you go back and read that post you’ll notice that religion is never mentioned anywhere. It’s got nothing to do with religious morals but everything to do with prostitution being illegal. I’ll stop when one of two things happens, when prostitution is made legal in the other 49 states, or when craigslist eliminates the erotic services section.

    This next one is from a repeat customer who I’ve ignored up until now. I figured since I was addressing hobbyists and escorts I might as well address a comment from the cult of craig. I received it as a comment on my post about the journalist who took out craigslist escorts on actual dates.

    So you are a judge and jury and human expert?

    What is the objective of this website?

    You need to provide a page telling your tale,

    or you ware just a whiney person, who looks

    a the world and complians,,,but has NO SOLUTION,,,

    what is your purpaose?

    First I’d recommend that you switch to the Firefox browser. It comes with a spell checker. Secondly, I thought the objective of this site was pretty obvious. It says so in the tagline, “The craigslist crime blotter“. Do you know what a crime blotter is? A lot of local newspapers in the US have a section that’s called the police blotter which mentions calls that the police have had. That’s sort of what I do except all the crimes here deal with craigslist or other classified sites. And I have three basic solutions that I’ve mentioned repeatedly that would go a long way to reducing crime on craigslist. 1. Make users have a public profile on craigslist. 2. Eliminate the erotic services section. 3. Don’t do business on craigslist.

    Hell, craigslist should be paying me a consulting fee.