Craigslist Ad Sparks Pillaging of Home

The ad placed on Craigslist read "come and take what you want", so that is exactly what many people did. The neighbors thought it was odd that so many people were coming in and out of the home; with what seemed to them like salvaged materials. The Tacoma, Wash. home of Laurie Rye was stripped clean, just about everything of value was taken. The list of items taken even includes light fixtures, baseboards, cabinets and the kitchen sink.

Raye had recently evicted the homes previous tenant, her sister, and this has caused much speculation as to just who may have posted the Craigslist ad. Due to the fact that the most likely person to have posted the ad is the victims own sibling; the police do not intend on charging anyone with any crime because it is a "civil matter" - this includes anyone who may have taken items from the home.

This is not the first time that illegal activities have been unveiled on the Craigslist classified ad website, far from it in fact. In the past their have been cases of prostitution, pimping, theft, and many cases of fraud brought against criminals whom chose Craigslist as their stomping ground.

Recently, their have been several interesting cases against people using Craig list. Some may remember these two cases which received little media coverage.

In August. a San Jose State University Football player was charged with 13 felony counts. The lengthy list includes: robbery, kidnapping and assault, in connection with four June robberies in which he allegedly used classified ads on Craigslist to lure his victims. He would lure prospective buyers of laptops, Xbox 360's, and other expensive tech equipment to meet him in isolated locations and then attacking them sometimes with a stun gun. All the attacks occurred within a three-to-four day span and were planned well ahead of time.

In January, two women were charged with using Craigslist to offer sex with girls in exchange for "donations" or "roses" - code words for money, police said. They were caught in several sting operations arranging for minors (16 and 14 years old) to perform sexual acts. They are to be charged with pimping and other counts.

Make no mistake; the cases mentioned are by no means the only cases pending against those who used Craigslist to achieve their criminal goal. Police are however finding it particularly difficult to navigate the laws regarding online transactions and closing cases that sometimes are entirely digital. When asked about crime on his site, Craigslist CEO Jim says that illegal activities are prohibited from being posted on Craigslist and that they do all they can to discourage such activities.