Monthly Archive for April, 2009

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A strange desire – Wash. man arrested for looking for a murder victimon craigslist

Man arrested after posting Craigslist murder ad:
$1 million bail for suspect in Craigslist sex-and-death case:

Once again I’m late to the party. I’m sure most of you have heard by now about the guy from Washington state who posted ad on craigslist looking for a woman he could have sex with then kill her and get paid for it too.

That man allegedly is 24-year-old Shawn T. Skelton of Kent, Washington.

Supposedly a craigslist employee spotted the casual encounters ad entitled “A strange desire” where Skelton allegedly expressed his desire to have sex with a woman he could murder and his fee was $1000.

Seattle police intervened contacted Skelton in an undercover capacity.

Investigators say after communicating with the man about 30 times, during which the man doubled his price to $2,000, detectives set up a sting at the Aero Motel in South Seattle where the man allegedly agreed to meet the would-be murder victim.


But of course the victim was the Seattle PD. Skelton allegedly had a length of chain and a knife on him at the time of his arrest.

Not surprisingly anymore his girlfriend is proclaiming his innocence and that police set him up…

“He didn’t do anything,” the woman said. “If he was doing anything, he was trying to figure out a way to get money. He had no intent to go through with it.”

She said she read some of the e-mails between police and her boyfriend and she said the police “definitely entrapped him.” She said the issue of payment was brought up by officers, not by her boyfriend.

“They offered him money and we’re broke, living at our grandmother’s house,” she said.

“He actually has a lot, lot, lot of mental issues that need to be dealt with … But he’s not really the person they’re making him out to be,” she said. “He’s a good person, an amazing father, and I love him and support him.”


Not only is love blind but it’s retarded.

Skelton allegedly placed the ad so guess what sweetheart, it’s not entrapment.

Skelton is currently being held on $1M bond.

Now this brings up a few points. First Skelton must be the dumbest criminal in America. With all the attention on craigslist now thanks to the so called craigslist killing out of Boston you would think that he would have picked a different avenue. Or maybe he picked craigslist because of all the attention. Either way he’s an alleged idiot.

Secondly the ad was discovered by a craigslist employee. I thought they didn’t have the manpower to monitor their ads since they only have 28 employees. If you monitor one you have to be able to monitor all.

Lastly where was the so called community policing that craigslist brags about so much. Why wasn’t this ad flagged by the other craigslist users?

craigslist’s response should be interesting if they deem this incident worthy enough to give one. I bet it will be about how they helped the police.

Thanks to Soobs, SuziQ, Greg and Steve Huff for the tips.

More on the Geebo vs. craigslist challenege

Geebo.com CEO and friend of the site Greg Collier issued the following response after this blog post at Switched.com appeared…

As an avid user of social networking sites, and a firm believer in their powers, I am pumped to challenge Craig, the founder of Craigslist, to a Twitter-off. Now I don’t doubt that a dance-off would have been more entertaining to watch, and laugh at, the message Geebo is looking to spread is definitely more serious than popping and locking.

It is funny to me that Craig has chosen to block me from sending direct messages to his Twitter account, instead of addressing the truthful allegations of Craigislist’s gross, and deadly, practices. Don’t worry though; Craig is still able to read my Twitter messages challenging him and Craigslist to clean up their act. With his decision to block Geebo, he has chosen to spend his time viewing my recent Twittering by searching Twitter directly. The irony is that the amount of time it takes to search for my recent Tweets, is equal to the amount of time it would take to remove the Erotic Listings section on Craigslist. Who would have thought that saving a life could be done in a Tweet? Well…Geebo did.

Unfortunately, Craigslist prefers a don’t ask, don’t tell policy. If people don’t ask for added security and privacy, they don’t tell them that they are risking their property, identity, savings and life. Such a policy is apathetic, dangerous and irresponsible. Posts go live on Craigslist within 15 minutes, leaving zero room for Craigslist management to review and revoke possible illegal or dangerous postings. This oversight, or rather laziness, is largely to blame for gross amounts of child pornography, prostitution, human trafficking, drug sales, stolen merchandise, identity theft, real estate scams and murder taking place across the United States.

Craigslist lacks a system of checks and balances that provides users with the degree of safety they deserve. Flagging, Craigslist’s joke of content monitoring is nothing more than a feel-good tool for the site’s management to claim that they are taking precautionary measures. Obviously, they have failed. More times than not user complaints are answered by an auto-responder, not a staff member. Conversely, those posts truly in need of flagging and removal go undisturbed.

At Geebo we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We pride ourselves in our humor and humility as we build, maintain and enlarge our online classified site. The only time we turn serious, however, is when the safety and security of our users is in jeopardy. In staying true to our goal of positively influencing and impacting the physical communities in which we serve, we have opted not to allow erotic services postings on Geebo. We don’t believe that there is an adequate way to regulate such a category that provides the necessary degree of privacy and security our users, and any users, should be afforded. So we don’t do it. Additionally, Geebo personally reviews each and every post submitted prior to publication. Taking user safety seriously isn’t a point to be mocked…it should be applauded.

If I were MySpace or Facebook friends with Craig I would trust that I would be de-friended shortly. After a Twitter “block” additional social networking embargoes typically follow suit. We aren’t friends on MySpace or Facebook, though I am not too concerned. I don’t need, much less want, friends who put their friends, clients or the public at large in harms way.


Again, in the interest of transparency I have no personal stake in Geebo.

Missouri AG demands meeting with craigslist

Mo. Attorney General Investigating Craigslist:

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster was one of the Attorneys General who also foolishly, in my opinion, entered into an agreement with craigslist thinking that they would actually do something about their erotic services section. Now he is demanding a meeting with representatives from craigslist in the next two weeks. He is also launching an investigation into craigslist but what that investigation entails is as of yet unknown.

Again I have to ask where he was before the murder of Julissa Brisman. It’s amazing how the media can dictate public policy when I’ve been screaming this from the rooftops for over two years. But hey I’m just some blogger.

Tales from the craigslist – January is the cruelest month

Reader Melanie wants to know if anyone has had any interactions with a possible scammer who goes by the name of Richard January. According to her he maybe running real estate scams on craigslist in the Montrose, Colorado area.

If you’ve had any dealings with Mr. January no matter where you live please leave your experience in the comments.

craigslist crime blotter 4/29/09 – Back to the grind edition

Evansville man falls victim to Craigslist scammer:

A man from Evansville, Ind. is out a few grand after falling for the fake check scam when trying to rent out a 2 bedroom home. The scammer used the e-mail address of rebeccawilliam@aol.com. The scammer claimed she lived in Paris and sent the man a check for more the amount and asked him to wire back the difference.

***

Mt. Laurel woman’s car stolen by Craigslist buyer:

A woman had her car stolen in Pennsauken, NJ after meeting what she thought was a prospective buyer for her car. The woman was selling her car on craigslist.

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Teen arrested for selling stolen TVs on Craigslist:

18-year-old Charles Campbell Delony of Gainesville, Florida was arrested for selling TV that he stole from apartments on craigslist. Again, world’s biggest fence.

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Douglas County Man Convicted In Craigslist Child Prostitution Case:

53-year-old Timothy Houser of Douglas County, Colorado was convicted of patronizing a 16-year-old prostitute from craigslist. Houser will be a registered sex offender for life.

VT e-mail threat suspect pleads guilty

Man pleads guilty to threatening Va. Tech alums:

On the eve on the one year anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre 28-year-old Johnmarlo Balasta Napa of Las Vegas, Nevada sent e-mails to two women who were stalked by Cho Seung Hui. He sent the e-mails from the address of seunghuichorevenge@yahoo.com so you can see how they might be construed as threats.

Anyway he’s pleaded guilty to transmitting a threat in interstate commerce., As part of his plea agreement a second charge was dropped. He could be sentenced to only 5 years.

Napa claims that draw he was trying to draw attention to violent Internet postings.Yeah, his own maybe.

“Your honor, I had concerns about violence and school shootings,” Napa said when the judge asked why he sent the e-mails.


Napa’s lawyer contends that Napa is schizophrneic but that obviously didn’t stop Napa from owning several firearms including the same model that Cho used at Virginia Tech.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 13th

Illinois AG calls for end of erotic services

Illinois attorney general demands shutdown of Craigslist’s erotic services section:

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan was one of the Attorneys General who in my opinion foolishly entered into an agreement with craigslist in regards to craigslist’s erotic services section. That was bthe agreement that generated craigslist’s so-called new measures that they implemented to limit the amount of erotic services ads. As I think I’ve shown while the number of ads may be down the amount of prostitution continued unabated.

Ms. Madigan must have realized the error of her ways as she has sent a letter to craigslist. Not only does the letter demand the end of the erotic services section but she also basically accuses craigslist of violating the agreement. She also requests that craigslist send her a detailed report of where the money from the erotic services section ads have gone. The money for the ads are supposed to have gone to charity.

Here’s a copy of the letter…

IL AG Letter to Craigslist


While I agree with what AG Madigan is trying to accomplish I do have to ask where she was before Julissa Brisman was killed.

Dyleski’s conviction upheld

Conviction upheld in slaying of lawyer’s wife:

Yesterday the California court of appeals upheld the conviction of Scott Dyleski. As you may recall Dyleski was convicted of killing Pam Vitale, wife of famed attorney Daniel Horowitz. In 2005 at the age of 16 Dyleski bludgeoned and stabbed Pam Viatle to death and carved a symbol into her back. He was tried as an adult and sentenced to life without parole. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth (not from me) because a 16-year-old was sentenced to LWOP.

His defense tried appealing the conviction based mostly on the contention that sentencing Dyleski to LWOP was cruel and unusual punishment. The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco disagreed…

“Youthful immaturity does not begin to explain a crime of such brutality,” wrote Justice Sandra Margulies. “Despite defendant’s age, we cannot say that a sentence of LWOP (life without parole) is disproportionate under either the United States or California proscriptions against cruel and unusual punishment, given the nature of the crime and the lack of significant mitigating factors.”


Let’s not forget that what Dyleski did to Pam Vitale was more than cruel and unusual and she was given a death sentence when she committed no crime.

News of Doom: Mich. men blow torch 6-year-old’s anus

Michigan

UPDATE: Clare men accused of burning boy’s anus with propane torch charged:

Reason to Blow Up the World

CLARE — Two Clare brothers charged with burning the anus of a 6-year-old boy with a propane torch could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of first-degree child abuse.

Clare County 80th District Court Magistrate Rick Laboda on Wednesday arraigned Gerald T. Hall, 36, and Glen Leslee Hall, 43, for the crime, which caused second- and third-degree burns, state police from the Mount Pleasant post say.

The mother of the child and hospital staff called police when they discovered what had happened. Police immediately arrested Gerald Hall and later arrested Glen Hall where he works at a construction site, said state police Sgt. Del Putnam.

“They said they were disciplining the child for making a mess in his pants,” Putnam said.

Police say the men took the boy to a shed and took turns burning the child on the buttocks and anus, causing the severe burns. The men also removed the boy’s clothing and burned them as well.


I couldn’t find what the boy’s relation to the two brothers is.

Anyway, whenever myself or Violet post one of these stories I have to wonder how in the hell someone’s mental process comes up with an idea like this. Can you just imagine the trauma this poor kid is going to have for the rest of his life? 15 years doesn’t seem nearly enough considering this kid will be scarred for life in more ways than one.

One point for coming up with such a horrific idea, another point for one of the brothers actually agreeing to it, one point each for the burning since they both took turns (2), and one last point for the too short proposed sentence. That’s five.

This isn’t just child abuse this is outright torture and special consideration should be made for the sentence.

Thanks to Jill for the tip.

Tales from the craigslist: Armoire-geddon

Received this e-mail from Jim about trying to sell a piece of furniture on craigslist…

posted a armorie on cragslist for sale. in two days I had 9 offers for it from people who wanted to send a mover to pick it up and pay with check or money order. in each case i arranged for a paypal transaction and each person refused to pay this way. Clearly a scam, lots of scammers lurking on that site


That’s actually a good tip to try and conduct the transaction through paypal. That way you don’t have to worry about fake checks and money orders.



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