Monthly Archive for January, 2011

NC sex offenders want back on Facebook

Published on January 31, 2011 by Trench Reynolds in Facebook, MySpace and Predators. 0 Comments

The other day I posted about a sex offender who was suing MySpace for giving law enforcement his information. Now we have two North Carolina sex offenders who are fighting to be allowed on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

For those of you who may not know North Carolina was one of the first states to enact a law that bans registered sex offenders from being on sites like MySpace and Facebook. I’m not a big fan of the law because I thought the main benefit of the law was to get North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper re-elected and that it does nothing about sexual predators who haven’t been caught yet. However there are some sex offenders who have been stupid enough to get caught by this law and I have no problem with sex offenders going back to jail.

Anyway back to this story. The names of the sex offenders are unimportant but one is arguing that he needs to be on sites like Facebook in order to promote his business. The sex offender in question was convicted for indecent liberties with a child. My point being is that he should have thought about the effect of being a sex offender would have on his business before he molested a child.

Not to mention that even if the NC law were to be struck down sites like Facebook and MySpace are private companies. They can ban whoever they feel like and there’s nothing that the sex offenders can do about it.

Man arrested for pimping out girl on casual encounters

Published on January 31, 2011 by Trench Reynolds in Craigslist and Prostitution and Human Trafficking. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Thomas Napolitano

Police: Tolland Man, Teen Advertised Prostitution Services on Craigslist:

Man, teen netted in prostitution sting:

Batboy over there is 25-year-old Thomas Napolitano of Tolland, Connecticut. He was arrested in Coventry, Conn. for allegedly prostituting a 17-year-old girl on craigslist.

But Trench, I hear you say, how is that possible since craigslist got rid of adult/erotic services worldwide? That’s because Napolitano allegedly posted 46 ads in the casual encounters section of craigslist. You know, the unmoderated and still free section of craigslist.

Again I call on craigslist to either moderate the casual encounters section or get rid of it all together because the community policing is obviously not working.

The fight isn’t over yet. Help spread the word on craigslist and backpage crime by winning a free CraigsCrimeList T-Shirt.

Craigslist crime post #1404
Prostitution/Human Trafficking post #667

Seattle has a runaway backpage pimp

Published on January 31, 2011 by Trench Reynolds in Backpage and Prostitution and Human Trafficking. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Baruti Hopson

Pimp convicted — but not to be found:

32-year-old Baruti Hopson of Seattle was convicted of prostituting an underage girl on the Village Voice Media owned backpage.com. The problem is he wasn’t there to hear his conviction. He testified in his own defense but since he was out on bail he decided to just skip the verdict. So now he has the new charge of being a fugitive to look forward to.

Hopson’s victim was a runaway who he took in then turned her out on the streets or in this case backpage.

Hopson’s case was the first heard under new Washington laws that increase the maximum sentences for child traffickers.

Under the enhanced legislation, pimps face standard sentences of seven to 10 years, up from roughly two, if the victim is under 18. Hopson faces a prison sentence of 20 to 26 years once he’s captured.

How sad is it that the sentencing was recently just two measly years for traffickers? It’s even sadder that the new law only gives them seven years? The saddest thing of all is that Village Voice Media keeps counting their mountains of cash while these girls are sold and traded on their website.

In 10 years Geebo.com never had a trafficking ad.’

The fight isn’t over yet. Help spread the word on craigslist and backpage crime by winning a free CraigsCrimeList T-Shirt.

Backpage crime post #85
Prostitution/Human Trafficking post #666

Skokie man charged with sex assault of 12-year-old

Published on January 31, 2011 by Trench Reynolds in MySpace and Predators. 0 Comments
Steve Burton

20-year-old Steve Burton of Skokie, Illinois was caught allegedly having sex in a car with a 12-year-old girl from MySpace. Again as I like to call it, child rape.

Both parties allegedly admitted that the girl was aware of Burton’s age.

This is how blasé we’ve become about this as a society. There’s no outrage anymore over this. It’s just become accepted that 12-year-old girls are going to get raped.

I mean Burton has only been charged with one count of criminal sexual assault and one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Those charges don’t sound like they carry any kind of serious jail time do they?

What does it take to bring back severe sentences again? Urkel over there should be doing hard labor at least if it were up to me.

NH man scammed women on craigslist by posing as US Marshal

Published on January 31, 2011 by Trench Reynolds in Craigslist and Scams. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Eric Williams

Feds: Fake cop scammed dates:

Former Dedham man arrested by U.S. marshals at TGI Friday’s Norwood:

Tripped up by tall tales:

Ladies, in case you needed another reason not to date guys off of craigslist here’s a good one. He might turn out to be some sandwich making douchebag posing as a US Marshal. That’s what 28-year-old Eric Williams of New Hampshire allegedly did.

The former Subway employee, I’m sorry, ‘sandwich artist’, is accused of scamming several women that he met off of craigslist claiming that he was a US Marshal. One victim said that he would tell stories about storming into the houses of pedophiles to arrest them.

In one instance he allegedly stayed the weekend with a woman he met posing as Marshal Douche and stole a blank check of hers then cashed it at a bank using his phony Marshal’s badge. It seems he really lived it up by driving a Ford Explorer made to look like a government vehicle.

To make matters worse Williams was allegedly released by accident but was tracked down by police at a public library on a computer on craigslist once again trying to tell some woman he was a US Marshal.

The best part to me though was that after stealing thousands of dollars from his victims he was arrested at a TGI Fridays. Way to live it up Dillinger. I guess he just can’t escape that Subway mentality.

Geebo.com got rid of their personals section to avoid just such an incident.

The fight isn’t over yet. Help spread the word on craigslist and backpage crime by winning a free CraigsCrimeList T-Shirt.

Craigslist crime post #1403
Scams post #196

NY Facebook rapist pleads guilty

Published on January 31, 2011 by Trench Reynolds in Facebook and Predators. 0 Comments
David Bradt

I hate it when the media puts certain tags on a criminal like the ‘Craigslist Killer’ or in this case the ‘Facebook Rapist’ because if history is any indicator they’re not the only ones.

Anyway today’s subject is one 24-year-old David Bradt, of Colonie, New York. He is the most recent Facebook rapist.

Bradt has pleaded guilty to four counts of felony rape for raping teen girls that he met on Facebook. My fingers kept wanting to type MySpace but here we are.

Bradt would friend a teen girl on Facebook then he would friend their friends. Eventually he would get a girl to meet him in real life and then would supply then with booze and weed before raping them.

Through his plea deal Bradt is only looking at 12 to 13 years behind bars and will be a registered sex offender. That comes out to only three years per rape charge. Seems like he got a sweet deal considering.

And again to parents just because Facebook isn’t as low rent as MySpace doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its share of predators.

Beware of job scams

Published on January 31, 2011 by Trench Reynolds in Scam Spam. 0 Comments

So as some of you may or may not know I was recently laid off from my day job and I’ve been looking for work. I have my resume out there waiting to be replied to by potential employers. It’s been rough but my mood picked up when I got the following e-mail. Names have been changed to protect the innocent and people who could sue me.

Dear Trench Reynolds, 

Hello, my name [redacted] and I am the Regional Preformance Leader of [company name]. I have reviewed your resume and believe you have the skills and background that we are looking for to fill one of our Account Executive positions in your area. Of the resumes I have reviewed for consideration, only a few meet our requirements and for that reason, I would like to offer you an opportunity to interview with us.  

The attire for your interview is Business Professional, it is mandatory for your interview.

The purpose of our interview will be to discuss specific details such as compensation, company leads, training, products and to answer any questions you may have. 

I have an available interview time for you on Wednesday February 2nd, 10:00am at our Charlotte Regional Office

I saw the words account executive and I thought to myself “Finally someone is recognizing my experience and talent in my field.”

Then I went to the company’s website. It was very slick and well made but instead of  seeing a job description there was a series of videos from some guy in a suit who I felt was delivering me a sales pitch instead of offering employment.

Then I Googled the company name and found out that a lot of people have been claiming that they are scam artists. Supposedly the company asks potential ‘employees’ to pay close to $300 for a background check and insurance licensing fees.

No legitimate company in my opinion ever asks for money for a security check. Over at craigscrimelist I’ve noted several times how that is a red flag for a scam.

Not to mention that the last time I was thinking about getting my insurance license the test was only $75 if I recall correctly.

There’s a special place in hell for people who are trying to rip off people who can barely afford to feed their families.

Suffice it to say I did not respond to this e-mail.

Ga. man blackmailed underage MySpace girls for explicit photos

Published on January 30, 2011 by Trench Reynolds in MySpace and Predators. 0 Comments
Joseph Reese

31-year-old Joseph Reese of Columbus, Georgia has pleaded guilty to charges against him that he blackmailed underage girls on MySpace to send him explicit photos.

Reese would pose as a modeling agent on MySpace then when underage girls would contact him he would start asking for semi-nude photos. Then after they sent him the photos he would use them as blackmail to get more explicit photos. He also made good on his word once by posting the photos of one girl that he received to MySpace.

He’s looking at 5-20 behind bars under the terms of his plea and will be a registered sex offender.

His lawyer is still making excuses for his client…

Hagler says Reese “operates at a level far below that of a normal adult man” and has been diagnosed with social anxiety. He says since his arrest, Reese has lost his job, is in the middle of a divorce, will lose custody of his children and will be branded for the rest of his life.

Awww. Sucks to be him.

I seriously doubt the claim that he operates below the level of a normal man since he had the mental capacity to impersonate someone on MySpace who could prey on gullible children.

Again parents, I recommend that you show this post to your kids to let them know that real modeling agencies don’t use MySpace or Facebook and don’t deal directly with underage kids.

Sex offender sues MySpace

Published on January 30, 2011 by Trench Reynolds in Lawsuit, MySpace and Predators. 0 Comments

34-year-old Cory Hubbard is a convicted sex offender. He was convicted back in 2008 for using MySpace to lure a 13-year-old girl to a motel.

He’s suing MySpace because he says they violated his privacy because the court order used to gain his information was from Georgia but should have held no weight in California where MySpace is based. MySpace voluntarily gave police Hubbard’s information.

If you think that’s ludicrous check out what his lawyer had to say…

“Big Brother needs to jump through certain hoops,” said Joshua Millican, the lawyer who is behind the Hubbard litigation. “Otherwise we have no protection.”

So basically what he’s saying is that the privacy rights for child molesters outweigh the safety and security of their possible victims.

Good luck with that and let me know how that turns out. No judge in the country wants to be the judge that ruled in favor of pedophiles.

Two indicted for child prostitution in Brooklyn

Published on January 30, 2011 by Trench Reynolds in Backpage, Craigslist and Prostitution and Human Trafficking. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Two Charged With Pimping Girls on Craigslist:

Two Brooklyn men busted in craigslist underage hooker scheme:

Authorities in Brooklyn, New York have indicted 25-year-old Arctic Rogers and 26-year-old Treymaine Songster with child prostitution. Surprisingly those aren’t their street names. Rogers referred to himself as “Scooby Da Don” which I guess makes his co-pimp Shaggy.

Scooby and Shaggy are accused of using both craigslist and backpage to prostitute two girls ages 15 and 17. Reports say that the pair used rape and threats of violence to keep the girls working for them.

Rogers is not only accused of branding the girls with his pimp name but he also allegedly filmed the girls having sex and then sold the videos online. So I guess we can add a child porn charge as well. To top it all of Rogers posted on his Facebook that his activities as “pimpin hoes” and “getting this money.” If it gets updated again I’m sure it will read ‘bein’ someones bitch” but I digress.

Police say that they’re may be other victims as well.

Not surprisingly craigslist couldn’t be reached for comment and I don’t think any media outlets even bothered to contact Village Voice Media about backpage since they probably don’t want to step on the toes of their media brethren.

The fight isn’t over yet. Help spread the word on craigslist and backpage crime by winning a free CraigsCrimeList T-Shirt.

Craigslist crime post #1402
Backpage crime post #84
Prostitution/Human Trafficking post #665