Read more at The Boston Herald…

Boston cops follow prostitution trail via Craigslist ad
By O’Ryan Johnson

Another prostitute allegedly peddling her services on Craigslist and working out of a Boston hotel was busted by police in an online sting, authorities said.

The arrest Tuesday of the 25-year-old woman comes just two weeks after cops locked up another woman  in an identical sting at the Westin Copley Place.

The woman – also wanted for defaulting on two prostitution warrants out of Chelsea and Dorchester – was arraigned yesterday on a prostitution charge in Boston Municipal Court. She pleaded not guilty.

A Boston detective posing as a john called a number listed on her advertisement, police said. She allegedly told the undercover cop to call her from the lobby of the hotel – which authorities declined to identify. Once he reached her hotel room, the cop handed her $200 and she began to undress, police said. At that point, cops knocked on the door, and she was arrested.

Cops seized four cell phones, a copy of her ad, and her room rental agreement.

Police are hoping to discourage prostitutes from advertising on Craigslist and other electronic billboards in the wake of the murder last year of Julissa Brisman.

Read more at WBZ.com…

Guilty verdicts in MA prostitution ring trial

Federal prosecutors say two Massachusetts members of a violent prostitution ring have been found guilty of forcing teenage girls as young as 15 to work as prostitutes, taking them to several states.

The two men were convicted in U.S. District Court on Friday. Prosecutors had previously said the 26-year-olds were members of a Boston-based group that operated from 2001 to 2005 in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, New Jersey, Florida and Pennsylvania.

Trafficking victims who were minors when the offenses occurred said in court that Tavares and Jones switched underage girls between themselves and viciously beat them.

Read more at The Boston Herald…

No sex change for Craigslist
Attorneys: Site hasn’t cleaned up
By O’Ryan Johnson

Just weeks after vowing to clean up its act on the heels of an erotic masseuse’s killing in a Hub hotel, Craigslist is back to its old tricks, running thinly veiled sex-for-hire ads and sparking a new round of outrage from law enforcement.

Ads posted on the Internet giant have replaced pornographic photos and explicit sexual language with shots of scantily clad women tantilizing would-be johns with “love it like it’s your last . . . have some fun with this sexy, attractive, vibrant young lady. My measurements are . . . ”

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley ripped the Web site, saying its new “adult services” ads are basically no different than the old “erotic services” come-ons.

“A cursory look at the adult services section of the site shows no significant distinction from the ‘erotic services’ section that preceded it,” Conley told the Herald.

“Our concern is public safety. As we’ve seen in Boston, the online advertisement of illegal services provided an assailant a shopping list of victims,” he added.

Conley’s office is prosecuting Philip Markoff, the alleged Craigslist killer who is accused of gunning down erotic masseuse Julissa Brisman and robbing two other women he met through Craigslist.

In Illinois, Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart, a staunch Craigslist critic, said the new revamped site has changed little from the old raunchy one.

“To say I’ve been less than overwhelmed by Craigslist’s new practices would be an understatement,” Dart told the Herald.

“They made promises to the public but have yet to file anything with any court outlining these new monitoring procedures, how many monitors they have or who’s doing it. We don’t know if it’s a team of trained, qualified staff or a summer intern.”

Read the whole entry at Bostonist…

Sex Still Sold On Craigslist; Revenue Increases

Any alleged negative attention garnered by Craigslist as a result of the “Craigslist Killer” case seems to have had little impact on how people use the Internet classified ad site, or on how well its business is doing. As a motion to investigate media leaks in the case filed by the attorney for alleged killer Philip Markoff was being rejected by Judge Frank M. Gaziano, another arrest involving illicit Craigslist ads was made on July 8. Two alleged prostitutes and a client were arrested in a sting run by Somerville police after officers responded to two separate craigslist ads for prostitution.

Bostonist was under the impression Craigslist was cracking down on ads for “erotic services”. One thing is certain, business appears unimpeded at Craigslist as the New York Times reported in June that the San Francisco-based company’s revenue is expected to rise 23% in 2009 and reach the $100 million mark.

Readers of Insider Escort Secrets know how to minimize the risk of hobby-related extortion. Read the whole story at The Boston Herald.

‘Secret’ hooker’s probation woes piling up
By Laurel J. Sweet

Ever since the woman, an alleged prostitute, was convicted of extorting $280,000 from a high-rolling married trick to keep his name out of the papers, her bad girl act has risen to diva proportions.

An allegedly potty-mouthed woman was “threatening staff” June 4 at the Boston halfway house she’s assigned to after they bagged her with a cell phone and for secreting food in her room, a federal probation report states.

Consequently, employees of the McGrath House – where she was sent last month because U.S. District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf believed she could no longer be trusted under house arrest in Dorchester – are subjecting the hooker gone haywire to “ongoing personal searches to ensure her compliance with community program rules.”

According to a report probation filed Wednesday with Wolf, “[She] accused staff of restricting her inappropriately and suggested that others in the house should also be restricted,.” “Staff refused to discuss other members in the house, and directed her to leave the room. She refused to follow the directive and continued to press staff for a date when her restriction would be lifted.”

The summary continues, “[She] was ultimately informed that her restriction would last one week, and was directed again to leave the room. [She] refused for a second time, and when the staff member left the room herself, [she] followed her to another room. At that point, [she] Robinson reportedly became irate and and began swearing and threatening staff.”

At the U.S. Probation Office’s request, Wolf declined to punish the woman further.

Robinson pleaded guilty in February to selling her silence to a 60ish wealthy businessman she’d carried on a sex-for-hire relationship with between December 2007 and June 2008. She faces imprisonment if she divulges the john’s identity in the next three years.

Read the whole article at The Eagle-Tribune…

Police keeping tabs on online sex ads
Local departments say Web postings have led to prostitution, drug arrests
By Jim Patten

One woman offers to come to customers’ homes to do “full erotic body rubs and much more” for $200 for an hour.

Another writes that she will do “discreet incalls and outcalls” in Northern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire.

Those are just two of the many postings on Craigslist offering illicit and possibly illegal services in the region.

Last month’s murder of a masseuse in Boston who had advertised on the Web site has raised a new round of questions about how it is monitored and whether its loose rules encourage criminal activity.

Police in Andover, North Andover and Salem all say they have investigated complaints of prostitution advertised on Craigslist. Other local departments say they also monitor the site.

But what makes the site especially difficult for police is that many of the postings that could involve illegal activity don’t explicitly say what services are being offered and don’t mention cash.

“You have to read between the lines with some of them,” Haverhill Detective Capt. Alan Ratte said.

The proliferation of ads for “erotic services” on the Web site caught worldwide attention following the arrest of Philip Markoff, a Boston University medical student charged with killing Julissa Brisman, a 25-year-old masseuse, on April 14 at the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel. He also is charged in a robbery at a nearby hotel of another masseuse police say he met through Craigslist.

Markoff, who has been dubbed the “Craigslist killer,” is being held without bail and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Local police say they’ve been monitoring Craigslist’s erotic postings section for years to keep tabs on possible prostitution and drug cases in the area.

“We have found activity at various locations, predominantly the hotels, but there have been residences listed as well.” Andover police Lt. James Hashem said.

But he said Andover police do not know of any assaults or other incidents of violence involving the Web site.

“We are pretty vigilant about monitoring them, and we have not allowed anything to fester into a situation like that,” he said. “Once we identify a situation like that, we are pretty quick to act on it.”

In North Andover, police Inspector Daniel Cronin said investigators there also monitor the site on a regular basis.

“We’ve had a number of complaints that were initiated on Craigslist over prostitution and financial fraud,” he said.

Read the whole story at Boston.com…

Prostitute who extorted money to serve full sentence
Violated terms of home confinement

A Canton prostitute who admitted in federal court last year to extorting $280,000 from a prominent local businessman in exchange for keeping their liaisons secret was ordered yesterday morning to serve out the remainder of her six-month sentence in a halfway house, after admitting to a federal judge that she violated the terms of her home confinement.

The woman, dressed in a gray pantsuit, appeared nervous yesterday as she sat next to her lawyer, Mark Smith, and when asked by Judge Mark L. Wolf if she had anything to say before he announced his decision, she initially declined. But after conferring with Smith, she stood up and said, “I just want to say that I am sorry and will obey the conditions.”

Wolf then ordered the woman to check into an undisclosed halfway house by noon next Friday. Her release date is scheduled for Aug. 17. The order was the result of a joint recommendation by Smith and prosecutors. Wolf then reprimanded the woman, saying at one point that she appeared not to be listening to him and that she probably committed more than one violation of her home confinement.

“I’m very concerned that I’m seeing you again. There would have been probable bases to see you in March when there were problems with the telephone. I’m disturbed about where you were on [April] 3d, and I’m concerned you weren’t truthful with the probation department.”

…

Last year Wolf accepted a controversial plea agreement that gave the woman, 29, less time behind bars than the two to three years federal sentencing guidelines recommend and that forbids her from revealing the identity of the man she extorted with threats of public disclosure.

The businessman’s identity has not been revealed. He has been described by authorities as a wealthy married man in his 60s from the Boston area who has funded startup companies and is active in charitable circles. Authorities say he paid the woman for sex from about January 2007 to June of last year.

A month later, according to the FBI, the woman called the businessman with a threat to reveal their relationship unless he gave her cash. The businessman gave her $80,000 outside a Newton hotel, and when she said that was not enough, he gave her $200,000 outside a store in Dedham, according to court records.

When she demanded $300,000 more, the businessman contacted a lawyer, former US attorney Donald K. Stern. Robinson was arrested in August; she eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud.

Stern previously said that his client wants to donate the $280,000 in restitution owed

An interesting look at how technology helped nab the Craigslist Killer suspect. Read the whole story at Information Week…

Tech Played Role In Hunt For Craigslist Killer
Police investigation relied on e-mail accounts, text messages, and IP addresses
By K.C. Jones

Technology allows women to reach perfect strangers and market sex, massages, lap dances, and other “erotic services.” It allowed a killer to lure women to hotel rooms, rob them, and shoot one dead. It also helped police and the public to track down and arrest a suspect.

Just days after the debate over whether Craigslist essentially promotes prostitution by allowing users to post ads online, police said that the Internet helped them find Philip Markoff, a 22-year-old medical student arrested in connection with the shooting death of Julissa Brisman in a Boston hotel.

Police said that a 29-year-old woman reported being robbed at gunpoint less than two weeks ago after meeting a Craigslist user in a hotel room in an affluent section of Boston. Four days later, Brisman, a 26-year-old New York City model, was shot to death as she tried to flee a hotel room in Boston. She went to the hotel to meet someone who responded to her Craigslist ad for massages. Two days later, a 26-year-old woman reported that a man tried to rob her at gunpoint in a Rhode Island hotel. That victim also met the perpetrator through a Craigslist erotic services ad.

Police said all three victims were bound with the type of disposable plastic handcuffs officers use at large gatherings and protests where multiple arrests are common. Police released surveillance photos of the suspect in Rhode Island and Boston. In an image captured after Brisman’s slaying, the man appeared to be texting on a PDA as though nothing had happened.

Markoff was arrested during a traffic stop and faces charges of murder, armed robbery, and kidnapping in connection with Brisman’s death. He is being held without bail. Police are investigating possible motives and whether Markoff was involved in the two other robberies. The Boston University student’s fiancee told reporters that he is innocent.

Law enforcement authorities said in court Tuesday that police used computer forensics to track Markoff down. They said he left trails on his own PDA, through an IP address, and through an e-mail account they said he created before answering the ads.

Read the whole story at The Telegraph…

Craigslist killer: medical student charged with Boston massage murder
By Tom Leonard

Philip Markoff, 22, a student at Boston University, was arrested over the murder of Julissa Brisman, 26, who offered visiting massage services and was found shot dead a week ago in her room at the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel. Police found a massage table already set up in the room.

Mr Markoff is also suspected in the kidnapping and armed robbery of a 29-year-old woman who advertised on Craigslist as an exotic dancer. Four days before Miss Brisman’s murder, the first victim was left tied up in another Boston hotel room after being robbed of her credit card and $800 in cash.

The arrest came after police released surveillance footage of a “person of interest” leaving the hotels, which drew hundreds of tips.

Daniel Conley, the Suffolk County district attorney, said: “There may be other victims out there, and if you are, we want you to come forward.

“Our top priority is holding Philip Markoff accountable. He’s a predator.”

But Megan McAllister, Mr Markoff’s fiancée, claims that police have the wrong man. In an email to ABC television, she described him as a “beautiful person inside and out” who “could not hurt a fly”.

Craigslist, a popular classified advertising website, which offers everything from flats to furniture to babysitters, has been linked to a growing number of crimes, including prostitution, theft, stolen property and child abuse. Its owners say the vast majority of transactions are legal and that the website works with police to curtail criminal activities.

Read the whole story in The Boston Channel…

50 Arrested In Craigslist Sex Sting
Police Hope To Nab Man Wanted In Boston Attacks

The search for a man dubbed the “Craigslist Killer” was front and center in the minds of Worcester police who arranged a prostitution sting over the weekend using online classified advertisements.

NewsCenter 5’s Jarrod Holbrook reported that 50 people were arrested as part of an undercover operation to roundup suspects using the Web site. The operation followed a series of robberies at Boston and Rhode Island hotels that are believed to have stemmed from advertisements on the Web site.

In one of the robberies, a woman who was advertising massage services on the site was bound with plastic ties and shot in the chest in what police believe was a botched robbery attempt. Another two women who were advertising services on the Web site were also bound and robbed by an individual believed to be responsible for all three attacks.

Police said that none of the people arrested over the weekend is believed to be linked to the hotel attacks. However, Boston police announced on Monday that a man was taken into custody in connection with the incidents. The man had not been arrested or charged following his detainment.

Worcester police Sgt. Matt Early said that despite the recent hotel attacks, scores of people still responded to a fictitious advertisement for sexual services that police placed on Craigslist.

“The numbers were surprisingly high,” said Early. “It seems like there’s more traffic on the Web site than before.”

Of the 50 people arrested, 20 were responding to ads placed in the erotic services section of the Web site, according to police. The vice squad setup separate hotel rooms and arrested both men and women in the sting, some responding to the advertisements and some posting their own offers to provide sexual services, police said.

“Some of the women that had posted ads weren’t aware at all of the killing or the assault, which was scary,” said Early.

Early said officers were hoping the sting would provide evidence or a suspect in the Boston and Rhode Island cases.

“That was in the back of our minds,” said Early. “We definitely had the man power up at the hotel in case it did present itself.”

“It is shocking to me that people would continue to actively seek out dangerous behaviors at a time when we’ve all been reminded how dangerous it is,” said Worcester City Councilor Barbara Haller. Haller said that she has been trying to clean up prostitution in her district, but she said that online services like Craigslist have created a new dimension to the problem.

“Technology advances — Craigslist — is going to require a whole new approach, but it’s clear to me that the Worcester Police Department is up for the task,” said Haller.

All 50 people arrested in the prostitution sting will be arraigned in Worcester District Court on Tuesday.