Posted on 04/29/2010 7:49:16 AM PDT by JoeProBono
SANDPOINT, Idaho, - A Craigslist ad ostensibly placed on the Internet site by a father offering a 4-year-old boy for sale was the work of a bored Idaho teenager, police said.
The ad, which asked $5,000 for the boy, led to an investigation by police in Spokane, Wash. Craigslist took the ad down.
Eventually, police traced the computer used to place the ad to northern Idaho, The Spokane Spokesman-Review reported. Lt. Corey Coon of the Sandpoint, Idaho, police department, found the author, a home-schooled 17-year-old.
"He was home with nothing else to do," Coon said. "He thought it'd be funny."
Coon plans to report to the Bonner County prosecutor by Monday on possible criminal charges against the teenager.
The teen never realized what a rumpus his prank caused, Coon said. The story became international news.
The ad was placed using the name Rick Obelophy. In addition to concerns about child selling, the Spokane County sheriff's office was also worried about child abuse.
"He doesn't fuss very much but when he does he just screams for hours," the ad said.
"I usually just put him in his closet until he stops and that usually works."
Oh for crissakes... take away the computer and ground him for a month...jeez...where the hell are PARENTS these days????
Exactly what law did he break?
Fraud, I guess.
He didn't really have a kid to sell.
Erm... he's home-schooled. They're probably around there someplace.
To begin with, it's probably illegal to offer kids for sale.... even for a joke.
And consider the resources expended by LEO to track this kid down -- they didn't know it was a joke, and it could have been real. I'm sure there are laws regarding that sort of thing, too.
But how much LEO does it tack to track down?
If it is real offer the money and go meet to pick up the kid. what, about 10 minutes work?
homeschooler
That's only in the cop shows, K. In real life there are significant hoops to jump through to get all that done. Planning, court orders, all the other stuff.
And then when the kid doesn't show up ... as he would not have done!!!! ... you still have to do the legwork.
Why teens think being bored is an excuse to do stupid stuff is beyond me. . .maybe I’m just too old. There are so many GOOD things they could do to alleviate boredom.
Bwahahaha.
Teenagers are idiots. Including homeschooled ones.
Just FYI.
Watch him get blamed for doing it because he’s a homeschooler.
Like public school kids never get bored and pull stupid stunts like this for the attention.
He did it because he’s a homeschooler.
Home with nothing to do....sounds as though someone needs more chores!
Like public school kids never get bored and pull stupid stunts like this for the attention.
If he was a public school kid he would have sold his little sister as a prostitute
Here’s an article with only a little bit more info:
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/apr/27/boy-sale-ad-was-work-bored-teen/
It should’ve been obvious that his post was a prank. But, I’ll bet he won’t try pulling that prank again. ;-)
I've felt like doing that myself.......
:O
LOL!!!
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