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Craigslist Crimewave: Rapes, Fake 'Orgy Requested' Ads and Robberies in News
Everywhere I look this morning I see reports of some crime being perpetrated or people being arrested for misconduct related to Craigslist. One very disturbing possible trend: fake posts inviting people to have sex with unsuspecting women. A recent example of this came earlier this month when police arrested a Connecticut man who, as part of a feud with a "soccer-mom" neighbor, targeted her with an explicit online posting (supposedly from her) that invited the Craigslist world to join her for an orgy.
The Associated Press reports that on April 5, 2010, Philip James Conran placed a post on Craigslist entitled "Looking for lust" seeking group sex and inviting strangers to "please come play" with his neighbor. It listed her street
address, as well, which police said resulted in a startling number of strangers knocking on the woman's door, calling the house, or driving by. One genius responded to the fake ad by going to the wrong house and groping a teenage girl, police said.
This case followed a similar matter In December, when police in Wyoming filed a case against a man who allegedly caused a rape by posting an ad on Craigslist pretending to be a woman he briefly dated. The ad requested a "real aggressive man with no concern for women" willing to carry out a rape fantasy, and provided the woman's address.
I then came across this story from WHAM.com earlier this week of a man who was arrested for "jokingly" trying to sell his children on Craigslist. Joshua Stagnitto says he was just joking around when he offered to sell his 1- and 2-year-old boys on Craigslist on April 7 ($40 dollars for one, $200 for both, including diapers) but police were not amused and arrested him for "falsely reporting an incident."
Finally, I ran across this story on Consumerist.com about a new warning issued by Oakland, California, police this week concerning Craigslist. Police say that there has been a recent flurry of incidents "where victims purchased items off Craigslist only to be robbed at gunpoint when they show up to take receipt of their purchases." Nice.
Oakland police have now issued special tips for minimizing your odds of becoming a Craigslist victim, including "Do not agree to meet in a secluded or residential area" and "Do not travel to any location with a large amount of cash."
Posted by Bruce Carton on April 27, 2010 at 12:20 PM | Permalink
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