TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: prostitution

  • An escort on craigslist

    I got an e-mail over the weekend from a professional escort who we’ll call Mary. She pointed me in the direction of archive.org and their Wayback Machine. Now I was familiar with the Wayback Machine but I never thought to run craigslist through it until now.

    Mary says that craigslist has been building their fame off the backs of hookers since almost the beginning but they don’t dare tell the public how long they’ve been doing it.

    Thanks to Mary’s tip I went through the Wayback Machine and the earliest I found that craigslist had the erotic services section listed on the front page was October 29, 2002. So for most of craigslist’s life, they’ve been using prostitution to attract users. If anything craigslist should give the prostitutes a cut. Also, we now have a date to ‘celebrate’ the day that craigslist started dallying in child prostitution and human trafficking.

    Getting back to Mary she says that craigslist has basically used the women to build their site and now they act like they have no clue of what’s going on. Mary also says that she has been harassed and stalked by craigslist users in the past and that craigslist does nothing to protect its users. She says she has posted warnings about stalkers and lost clients because of it so basically like I’ve been saying it’s the inmates who are running the asylum at craigslist. Mary finds it ironic that the stalkers get the last say since craigslist was built on the backs of hookers.

    Do I think that Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster are pimps? Not in the least. Pimps at least pay their girls.

  • craigslist pimp trial rescheduled

    Trial Delayed For Man Accused Of Forcing Women Into Prostitution:

    The trial for craigslist pimp Aaron George was supposed to have started today but has been rescheduled for September 16th.

    George is accused of forcing women into prostitution including am 18-year-old and a woman who was six months pregnant.

    George had previously escaped Orange County, Florida jail but was apprehended in California.

  • 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?

  • 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.

  • Cook County Sheriffs want erotic services eliminated

    Sheriff wants Craigslist to drop ads for erotic services:

    The Cook County Sheriff’s Department in Illinois wants craigslist to shut down their erotic services section for various reasons. Two of which are…

    When a Cook County sheriff’s investigator posed as a 14-year-old girl looking for sex online earlier this year, this was one of the replies:

    “I’d love to chat with you and set up some fun this afternoon. Do you have a pic of you?”

    And…

    In one case, the prostitute rented one room for her business and another for her children, Mateck said. After the woman was arrested, she failed to tell police her children were staying in another room, Mateck said.

    “Our officer went to the room, knocked on the door, and the woman’s 4-year-old daughter opened it,” Mateck said. “They went in and found the woman’s 2-year old son scooping water out of the toilet to drink.”

    But there are no victims, right?

    Cook County sheriffs have contacted craigslist but as of the time of the article, they have not received a response.

  • NC prostitute killed affter meeting man on craigslist

    prostitute

    Warrants: Victim met suspected killer online:

    51-year-old Bernard George Lamp of Troutman, North Carolina is accused of killing alleged prostitute Bonnie Lou Irvine of Cornelius, North Carolina. The two met over craigslist where Irvine had placed an ad.

    She also directed him to pictures of herself posted on a different Web site that authorities say is popular with men seeking prostitutes, the search warrants said.

    And here’s where it gets weird…

    Lamp was arrested after sheriff’s deputies stopped him driving Irvine’s 2001 Volvo on March 14, said Iredell sheriff’s Capt. Darren Campbell. Authorities then found Irvine’s body buried at Lamp’s girlfriend’s home in Troutman.

    According to search warrants, Lamp also met the girlfriend on Craigslist.

    And it doesn’t end there. Lamp was on probation for the attempted rape of another prostitute that happened at a truck stop on I-77 in Troutman.

    Is the money so great in prostitution that these women are willing to risk their lives each time they meet with a john? I doubt it is at a truck stop.

    UPDATE: I guess the money is that great. Check out the video from a local news station and see some of the houses these local call girls lived in.

    UPDATE 2/22/2014: Lamp was sentenced to death for Ms. Irvine’s murder.

    The last person to be executed in North Carolina was Samuel Russell Flippen. He was executed in 2006 for the blunt force trauma death of his 2-year-old stepdaughter in 1994.

    UPDATE 5/30/2016: Lamp died earlier today of natural causes. He probably died more peacefully than he deserved or afforded his victim.

  • craigslist protitution in Charlottesville

    Looking Into The World Of Online Prostitution In Charlottesville:

    This is a great story from WCAV in Charlottesville, Virginia about craigslist prostitution in their area. I realize it was probably done for ratings sweep’s week but it’s still a great story nonetheless.

    They interviewed a craigslist prostitute over the phone. Here’s just a sample of what really caught my attention…

    Mark: Do you have any kids?

    Alecia: uh huh.

    Mark: What do you tell them when you’re leaving the house?

    Alecia: I’m going to work. I do what I do right now so that they won’t have to.

    Yep, no victims there.

    But what was even more shocking to me was the police department’s’ response to this.

    We contacted Albemarle County and Charlottesville Police to get their reaction. Albemarle County Police say they were unaware of the website and would look in to it. Charlottesville Police said they would get back to us.

    What rock are they living under?

    craigslist had its usual response…

    Craigslist does ban illegal activity in their terms of use. After contacting them they say they do everything they can to prevent anything illegal on their website but it’s impossible to review each of the more than 30 million free postings submitted each month.

    Translation: We don’t care.

  • Mich. man gets 40-60 for the victimless crime

    Man gets 40-60 years for abusing daughter:

    48-year-old William Pattison of Milford, Michigan was convicted and sentenced to 40-60 years in prison for first-degree criminal sexual conduct and pandering.

    Pattison started sexually abusing his daughter when she was 4 to 5 years old then pimped her out on craigslist as an adult.

    Pattison is also accused of sexually abusing another female relative who is the mother to another one of his kids.

    But hey prostitution is a victimless crime remember. There’s no human trafficking involved at all.

    That was sarcasm in case you couldn’t tell.

  • The victimless crime strikes again

    The victimless crime strikes again

    Man Faces Federal Charges in a Sex Ring in Minnesota:

    41-year-old Liqing Liu, a Chinese national living in Minnesota, is facing federal charges of transporting women across state lines to engage in prostitution. He ran several massage parlors, some of which that advertised on craigslist, with women that were basically slaves to him…

    Sgt. Grant Snyder of the Minneapolis Police Department, a lead investigator, said the women, all Chinese or Korean, were prohibited from leaving the place of business, kept under video surveillance, and had their passports and other forms of identification confiscated.

    The women’s poverty, language barriers and immigration status were used against them, Sergeant Snyder said, and the authorities said they were treating the women as crime victims and not criminals.

    The authorities described the patrons as mostly white upper-middle class men between 35 and 55, including doctors and business owners. They usually paid $80 a session, which the prostitutes were obligated to hand over to Mr. Liu, the police said.

    The women could negotiate with customers for more money, the police said, but their earnings were marginal at best; one illegal South Korean immigrant mentioned in the criminal complaint had to pay Mr. Liu $40 a day for room and board. He booked her airfare, later deducting it from her prostitution wages, the police said.

    Even if prostitution was legal, there would still be scumbags like Liu forcing women like these into sex slavery.

  • More Tarheel shenanigans in the Big Apple

    More Tarheel shenanigans in the Big Apple

    Craigslist pimp from Queens busted:

    Carlton “Privilege” Simons, 25, of Queens, and Shernett “Divine” Reevey, 24, of Charlotte, N.C., were convicted late Friday of luring the teenage student from her home with promises of money and introductions to rap celebrities.

    Once in New York, however, the 18-year-old woman was physically and verbally abused, forced to pose for provocative photographs later posted to Craigslist and to prostitute herself at hotels and at a “track,” or a location frequented by sex workers and their customers from Lexington to Park Avenue on 48th Street.

    Still think prostitution is a victimless crime?