May 20, 2009
Accused Craigslist Sex Peddlers Busted
New York State Indicts 7 For Running Online Prostitution Ring
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(CBS/AP)
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Room Service Entertainment, headquartered in Queens, N.Y. and advertised in the "Erotic Services" section of the popular online classified site, was an illicit prostitution operation that used codes to arrange transactions, Cuomo's office said.
The arrest highlights the continued presence of prostitution ads on Craigslist, according to Cuomo.
“Until Craigslist gets serious about putting real protections in place, it will continue to be an environment where criminal operations thrive with impunity," Cuomo said in a press release. “Even after so-called reform of the Website last fall, this prostitution ring easily gamed the system ... Today's arrests underscore the inherent risks posed by Craigslist and, most importantly, the need for protections that are full-fledged, not half-baked.”
In addition to employing prostitutes, the company also hired "bookers" who would post ads to Craigslist and take phone calls from prospective customers to set up a meeting, officials said. On the phone, bookers and clients did not use the term sex and instead referred to "GFE," or girlfriend experiences, as well as "skiing" and "rock climbing," which referred to drugs and partying, according to authorities.
Among the indicted are the owners of the alleged ring - Scott Rosenberg, 45, and Josef Davenport, 31. Five alleged bookers were also named - Patricia Krupa, 32, Joanna Mercado, 24, Sylvia Soto, 29, Lina Vazquez, 24 and Barbara Morris, 48.
The charges include enterprise corruption, conspiracy and money laundering.
Meanwhile, Craigslist's chief executive is suing South Carolina's attorney general, claiming the prosecutor's threat to file prostitution charges against the San Francisco company is unreasonable.
CEO Jim Buckmaster said on his blog he wants a restraining order to keep Attorney General Henry McMaster from pursuing criminal charges.
McMaster said last week he would prosecute Craigslist executives for aiding and abetting prostitution if an ad on the site leads to a prostitution case in South Carolina. McMaster has said his office is investigating, but no charges have been brought.
In a statement, McMaster says the lawsuit shows Craigslist is taking his investigation seriously and called it a victory. The lawsuit was filed late Tuesday night in a federal court in South Carolina
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Michelle Obama tells how her role as the First Lady has changed her perspective.
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See all 29 Commentslleave adults alone who are harming no other people
Answer: The woman isn't buggering your little boy behind the alter.
Stop the silly fantasy that all hookers have pimps. Bet if they did an honest poll, they'd find out half are regular women making ends meet. Maybe one third are into the drug or sleaze scene.
Yup, I could be an old lady now, but I'm still a market item for older men, who hate the naivety of younger women, but appreciate the reliability and experience of a mature vixen.
How about women that sleep with men just so they can get free gifts, they are just called girlfriends or wives. I am not saying that every woman sleeps with men for this reason but I'm sure alot do. They use s*e*x to get the things they want even in a relationship.
It's time to take a page from Nevada and leagalize it. Regulate it, provide a safe enviroment for it for both parties, and tax it. If two consenting adults want to do it for money, stay out of their business.
Like everything, the lawsuits and go where the money is...and craigslist is perceived as having lots of money. There is a price to pay for success in this country. That price are lawsuits. Of course lots of small companies get sued but not as often because there isn't the money to chase - and these lawsuits usually destroy the little guy who is forever silenced or at least swept away by the expense of it all.
It's "a woman's body" with respect to abortion, but that same body suddenly becomes government property when it comes to prostitution or even pornography.....and its usually the same poeple (radical feminist) promoting this double standard.
The reason they aren't going after those thousands of sites is that they are waiting around to see if the MPAA/RIAA is able to succeed in it's "indexing" lawsuits.
Right now those orgs are doing everything they can to have it made illegal to publish a LINK to a copyrighted piece of music or software, even if the site publishing the link isn't hosting the pirated material itself.
If they succeed then they will force Google to pull every reference result in it's search engine that links to an illegally pirated movie or sound file..
And if they succeed then right on the MPAA/RIAA's heels will be the state AG's telling Google and Yahoo and MSN to pull every link that leads to a prostitution website based on the same legal reasoning.
Once the pimps and hookers got involved it just ruined it, and drove off all the swingers and h o r n e y people just looking to get their rocks off, and then all the mafia, gangs, and money and drugs moved in to replace them.
Craigslist has been sucking ADVERTISING REVENUE from the mainstream media. It offers FREE or low cost advertising that replaces CLASSIFIED ADS. The media conglomerates are LOSING MONEY because Craigslist is providing an affordable alternative to the MONOPOLY that the newspapers (owned by the big media companies) have enjoyed.
There is nothing that the mainstream media would love better than KILLING CRAIGSLIST so they can get you to pay $100 a day for an ad that you can place on Craigslist for almost nothing (not to mention the IMMEDIACY of Craigslist ads).
There IS a reason the media is trying to tie Craigslist to PROSTITUTION. It's simply GREED.
Here's the proof: There are THOUSANDS of web sites that cater ONLY TO PROSTITUTION ADVERTISING. Notice there is no crackdown on them? There is no MEDIA CIRCUS about those sites. There are no political PUBLICITY HOUNDS running around trying to shut them down. 99% of CRAIGSLIST ADS are LEGITIMATE ads that would be in newspapers if the newspapers were not so friggin expensive.
Posted by Slrman at 10:55 AM :
Prostitution should never be legalized There is a God and Jesus, and the only place I will spend eternity is in Heaven
13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.
Prosecuting prostitution is a waste of resources. How about investigating and prosecuting the thousands of UNSOLVED MURDERS, RAPES, and ASSAULTS that are sitting on the desks of these useless and spineless prosecutors? I hope Cuomo gets thrown out of office. Let him pal around with his CHRISTIAN TALIBAN supporters.
It is time that laws based on religious customs and beliefs be removed from the books as long as it does not create harm or endanger innocent people.
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