Craigslist Sex Ad Turns into Iowa Woman's Nightmare
Photo: Jody Karns.
Now she is forced to field calls from total strangers in the middle of the night seeking, well you know what they are seeking.
"I got a phone call at 12:30 from a man who said he was driving to me to meet me because I wanted two men," Karns told CBS affiliate KCCI. "I was scared. I wasn't just going to go to bed and relax. You can't. The first person that called said that he was in his car, driving, coming to see me. And it's like whoa, uh uh."
Karns said that call was just the first of many that started several weeks ago. Her phone records show that minutes later, another call rang and then another.
More than 80 incoming calls, more than 50 text messages and explicit e-mailed photos, all because of an online ad that she said she never placed.
The online ad said Karns was looking for two men to "put this fire out." It ran on the casual adult encounter section on Craigslist.
Karns said she thinks she knows who posted the ad and that it is part of a complicated and bitter family dispute, some of which is out of the reach of law enforcement. She said, in this case, somebody went too far and she thinks law enforcement should do something about it.
Jasper County Attorney Mike Jacobsen said Karns may have committed criminal harassment against the person she believes may have posted the ad, which is one of several reasons why he said he would not pursue the case.
Jacobsen said the Craigslist incident is an Internet misdemeanor harassment case, which would take too much time and effort to pursue. Jacobsen said he's written a letter to Karns explaining why he won't prosecute.
"Do I have to get raped? Do I have to get beaten for them to say, 'Oh, ----, maybe we should have done something two months ago? Because, like I said, people are still calling," said Karns to the affiliate.
Karns said after taking many calls from strange men, she changed her voice mail, directing Craigslist callers to the possible suspect's phone number.
She asked Craigslist to remove the ad shortly after it first appeared, but apparently that didn't happen and her phone just keeps ringing.
Story Contributed to CBS Affiliate KCCI