TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: Virginia

  • Mr. Do arrested in craigslist sting

    Police nab Reston man in online child sex sting:

    Police in Fairfax, Virginia have arrested Bao Duc Do of Reston, Va. for responding to a craigslist ad that was placed by Fairfax police. The problem with that is that the advertisement was an ad Fairfax police were using in a sting to flush out sexual predators.

    The phony ad hinted that a man was willing to rent out his juvenile daughters for sex. When Mr. Do responded to the ad he discussed prices and terms with the ‘father’ of the girls. He negotiated a price of $150/hr. for an 11-year-old girl. When he was arrested at the pre-arranged meeting place he had $800 on him so he was planning on at least 5 hours with the girl.

    What I’d like to know is how did the police department’s ad even make it on to craigslist. I thought craigslist users are supposed to flag any ad that may be for illegal activity. Again I ask how’s that working out?

  • Ex-Marine arrested in craigslist death

    Murder Shocks Neighbors:

    As you all know you can find just about anything on craigslist. Hacked iPhones, stolen stereos, a human being. Wait, what?

    That’s what 35-year-old Willie Donaldson of Arlington, VA got. He responded to the ad of 32-year-old Matthew Hicks of Sterling, VA. Donaldson hired Hicks and his girlfriend but it was unknown for what but not surprisingly Hicks’ ad was in the erotic services section of craigslist.

    At sometime during the night Hicks and Donaldson got into some kind of argument. Shortly before 4am the ex-marine Donaldson put an end to the argument by allegedly shooting and killing Hicks. Donaldson then called the police and when they arrived at the scene Donaldson turned himself in quietly.

    According to the article, Donaldson looked brutal in his mugshot sporting some blood, a black eye, and a sling. So technically Donaldson could have acted in self-defense. That remains to be seen.

    What you won’t hear the media say is that this is the third murder that was somehow connected to craigslist. The first was Katherine Ann Olson of Minneapolis who was shot and killed when she responded to a fake employment add. The second was Charles Parrish Murphy of Fresno, California. He was found dead after he went to meet someone he was selling a car to on craigslist. That doesn’t even count 19-year-old Donna Jou who disappeared after having a date with a sex offender that she met through craigslist.

    This highlights a big problem with craigslist and its erotic services section. Even after its much-lauded new security measures, it seems that the erotic services section of craigslist is still alive and thriving. If you haven’t figured it out by now I would say that 99% of all erotic services ads are not so thinly veiled ads for prostitution. And prostitution is not a victimless crime as so many would have you believe. Even if prostitution was legal you’d still have the problems of drugs and violence that are associated with it now.

    Even though craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster said that any amount of crime on craigslist is unacceptable he still allows the largest source of crime on its site to continue.

  • Va. attorney arrested in craigslist child prostitution sting

    Attorney Arrested for Answering Child Sex Ad:

    29-year-old attorney Adam Bryant has been arrested in a craigslist undercover sting where undercover detectives placed an ad on craigslist from a father that was offering his 13-year-old daughter for sex. Bryant offered $1000 and was arrested when he arrived at the predetermined meeting place.

    Investigators are also saying that Bryant has been in contact with child prostitutes since 2006.

    How is this a victimless crime again?

  • 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.

  • Bad Ronald

    Bad Ronald

    MySpace predator sentenced to 10 years:

    51-year-old Ronald L. Phillips of Richmond, Virginia was sentenced to 10 years behind bars this past Monday for trying to meet up with a 14-year-old girl for sex over MySpace. Guess what. The 14-year-old girl was actually an agent for the FBI.

    Go figure.

    Phillips was arrested in a motel parking lot the night before he was supposed to meet “the girl”.

  • More on Virginia’s proposed MySpace legislation

    More on Virginia’s proposed MySpace legislation

    False promises on MySpace safety:

    I’m kind of relieved that I’m not the only person who thinks Virginia’s proposed MySpace legislation is pointless…

    Flummoxed by bad press, the folks at MySpace.com are scrambling to derail the perception that they’ve become the preferred dating service of pedophiles.

    The first arrow in their anti-Cupid’s quiver is to enact state and federal laws requiring that convicted sex offenders register their e-mail addresses just as they already must register their physical one. Armed with the new database, MySpace and other sites will be able to bar the cyber-gates against perverts.

    On Monday, Virginia’s Attorney General Bob McDonnell announced his backing for the required legislative changes here.

    McDonnell is right to be concerned about the issue, but if his loud endorsement causes parents to ease up on supervising children’s Internet use, the effort will be worse than irrelevant. The idea is so ridiculously full of holes that any predator familiar with such obscure Internet technologies as Yahoo! and Google can get around it with a minute’s effort.

  • Va. Attorney General piles on MySpace

    Va. Attorney General piles on MySpace

    Virginia Attorney General Proposes MySpace Bill:

    Another State Attorney General who doesn’t get it jumps on the MySpace scarewagon. This time from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

    Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell announced plans today for legislation to require convicted sex offenders to register their online identities with the state.

    That would allow social networking Web sites like MySpace to delete or block access. McDonnell’s says in a statement that Virginia would be the first state to propose registration of e-mail addresses and instant messaging identities on the state’s sex offender registry.

    McDonnell says it’s important these changes be made at a state level because most prosecutions of sex offenders happen at the state level. There are more than 550-thousand registered sex offenders in the United States and 13-thousand in Virginia.

    MySpace officials applauded the Virginia announcement, saying the Internet “is a community as real as any other neighborhood and is in need of similar safeguards.”

    In my opinion, this proposed legislation is just to garner votes from the equally clueless soccer mom types.

    Again I say, what’s to stop the sex offenders from creating another account different from one registered with the state. And how will this prevent those predators who haven’t been caught from claiming another victim?

    When you have those questions answered, then you’ll have some legislation with teeth instead of the same old crap that legislators have been trotting out.

    Politicians and lawmakers should learn how to use the internet first before they start legislating it.

    And again, not one mention of more vigilant parenting.

  • Virginia craigslist rapist may have more victims

    Virginia craigslist rapist may have more victims

    Man Charged in Rape; Police Fear More Victims:

    Recently, I talked about Michael Frese, the guy who raped a woman advertising massage services on craigslist. Police are saying there may be more victims…

    After a Dale City man was charged with raping a 19-year-old woman who advertised massage services online, Prince William County police said this week that they fear there might be more victims.

    “We need to know how many more are out there,” Detective Quenton Sallows said.

    The woman told police that after the man raped her at knifepoint last Thursday, he chastised her for advertising online and told her that “he was just trying to show her how dangerous it can be, that she could lose her life for $200,” Sallows said. The man then warned her not to call police, saying that he and his family were in law enforcement and that his home was used by officers to clean up the neighborhood, Sallows said.

    “We’re afraid that there might be other victims out there who were too intimidated by that speech to come forward,” Sallows said.

    The woman arrived at the home just before 4 p.m. and was immediately led down to the basement, police said. Feeling uncomfortable with the situation, she tried to leave, saying she forgot something in her car, police said, when Frese allegedly pulled out a serrated knife. The woman was then handcuffed and sexually assaulted, police said.

    She was allowed to leave only after receiving the lecture and being made to promise that she would never advertise massage services online again, Sallows said.

    The woman drove to a police station, where she reported the sexual assault. Sallows said the woman “did have some physical trauma to help substantiate the claims she was making.”

    Here’s the “not surprising” part of the article…

    Reached at the home Tuesday, Michael Frese’s father, Larry, said he couldn’t understand the charges against his son, who he said lives with him and had never been in any real trouble before.

    Lives in his dad’s basement, huh? Go figure.

    Anyway…

    Police said they are investigating to see whether there are any additional victims and encourage anyone with information to call Sallows at 703-792-7234.

    They are not trying to charge anyone with prostitution, Sallows said. “We just want to know how many victims we have,” he said.

  • Michael Frese

    Michael Frese

    Man Sexually Assaults Masseuse, Police Say:

    This one is quite disturbing…

    WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Police in Prince William County said they have arrested a man in a sexual assault and police impersonation investigation.

    Police said that on Thursday at 3:55 p.m., a man used Craigslist.com to arrange a one-hour massage at his house in the 13100 block of Kumar Court in Woodbridge. A 19-year-old woman went to the home to perform the massage.

    At one point, the man pulled out a knife, handcuffed the woman and sexually assaulted her, police said. The man told the woman he was a police officer before letting her go.

    Michael Frese, 24, is charged with rape, forcible sodomy, abduction with intent to defile and impersonating a police officer. He was arrested Friday.

    Thanks to tipper Melissa, we have Frese’s MySpace and Frese’s private MySpace

    Strange behavior for someone who claims to be married.

  • A message from Kyle Hulbert

    A message from Kyle Hulbert

    About a month ago, I re-told you the story of Kyle Hulbert. If you want the whole story, you can go here, here, and here.

    Long story short, Kyle was not in his right mind when he took part in a murder, and the mastermind behind it received a lighter sentence than Kyle. Kyle puts it better in his own words.

    Anyway, Kyle wanted to correspond with me through regular mail. Unfortunately, for privacy reasons, I don’t correspond with anyone via the mail, nothing against Kyle. Today, I received a message from him through a friend of his…

    Trench,

    Greetings; I understand you desire not to correspond via regular mail all too well, and I respect it. I just wish to extend my thanks to you for the “follow up” you posted on your site. I’m sure it will be of some help and I can use all that I can get. Again, thank you, and when the day comes (not if) that I am again roaming the Night, your site will be one I plan to frequent. Intelligence is rare in this world and must be appreciated. I appreciate yours, and I appreciate your help.

    Salud,

    Kyle Hulbert

    Like I said before, I think at the time Kyle was just an instrument in the murder, like a gun. It was Clara Jane Schwartz that pulled the trigger.

    And also, like I said before, Kyle freely admits to the killing and believes that he does deserve punishment. He just believes that the punishment he received was not equitable in relation to the sentence of Clara Schwartz, who would have gained the most from the murder, and I agree.

    You know I’m not the type that wants the system to coddle criminals, but if I believe that a sentence was unjust then maybe there’s some validity to the claim. And again, like I’ve said before, don’t believe me, see it Kyle’s own words.