Free Republic

A Bexar County jury on Wednesday acquitted Ezekiel Gilbert of murder in the death of a 23-year-old Craigslist escort. Gilbert, 30, embraced defense attorneys Bobby Barrera and Roy Barrera Sr. with tears in his eyes after the not guilty verdict was read aloud by state District Judge Mary Román. Outside the courtroom, Gilbert thanked God, the Barrera family and the jury for being able to “see what wasn't the truth” and for the “second chance.” Had he been convicted, he could have faced up to life in prison for the slaying of Lenora Ivie Frago who died about seven months...

A Texas woman is not going to receive a Mother of the Year award. Instead she may receive prison time for placing her three-year-old son for adoption on Craigslist, the online marketplace. From a report by KHOU-TV in Houston: A 29-year-old mother who suffers from depression and anxiety says she placed a public ad offering to give her 3-year-old son up for adoption because she was off her meds, according to Houston police. Stephanie Christine Redus was charged with advertising for placement of a child; a misdemeanor. Police ran across a Craigslist ad seeking a good home for a 3-year-old....

A Maine teenager who advertised his BMW for sale on Craigslist was forced into the vehicle’s trunk at gunpoint and taken on an eight-hour drive to Delaware by a man who masqueraded as a purchaser, The Smoking Gun has learned. After posting his online ad last month, Alexander Filatov, 19, was contacted by Travis Landry, who said he was interested in buying the grey 2004 sedan. Landry, 29, directed Filatov to meet him at the Motel 6 in Portland where he was staying.

A Walmart employee in upstate New York allegedly made very productive use of his time during overnight shifts in the store. Unfortunately, he did so by advertising his services online as a prostitute, then meeting clients in a store bathroom during his breaks. Great efficient use of time, but also kind of illegal.According to state police, the store bosses became suspicious and alerted authorities about the 22-year-old’s possible side hustle. Police had an undercover officer set up an appointment and offer to exchange sex for money. The man was arrested and charged with prostitution, and has been suspended while Walmart...

After the Boston Marathon bombings this week, there were many joint efforts to get injured people to the hospital, donate blood and identify the perpetrator(s). It was moving, really, how everyone came together. For the most part. It hasn't all been selfless and admirable behavior, though. On CraigsList.com (of course), some people in Boston decided to try to get sex via anonymous ads in the personals section, reports Salon.com. One ad headlined: "Care to celebrate life with me today?" The ad's text stated: "Just want human contact, celebrate life in face of it. Looking for making out and touching."...

New York fashion blogger Brittny Pierre is not ashamed to admit that she had gone out on dozens of dates with men for the sole purpose of getting a square meal. Pierre, who has been writing for Village Voice Media and a hip hop website, made the confession in a piece written in the first person that appeared on the feminist blog XOJane this week. The woman detailed how she would meet her 'victims' on the dating site OKCupid and through Craigslist, and would go out for dinner three times a week with different men, allowing them to foot the...

We've all heard about the free Obama phones. A friend was recently looking for a part-time work and found this listing on Craig's List [note: the "DMV" refers to DC, Maryland, Virginia]:

A family is losing their home. They gotta go. So they post an ad on Craigslist....  Link To Gannet Story.   Video at link also.

A Minnesota state lawmaker who authorities say admitted having a liaison with a 17-year-old boy at a rest stop faced calls from party leaders on Monday to give up his re-election bid. Rep. Kerry Gauthier, 56, hasn't been charged in the July incident, and authorities said he wouldn't be because the boy was older than 16, the legal age of consent, and no money was exchanged. Police say the teenager responded to the lawmaker's Craigslist ad for "no strings attached" sex. Gauthier admitted to the liaison, according to police reports made public late last week. The teen told police the...

Rep. Kerry Gauthier, D-Duluth, won't face charges for having oral sex with a minor at the Thompson Hill rest stop near Duluth, but at the least he's revealed himself to be a dishonest person, lying to the 17-year-old about his age and to police about what exactly happened in the woods that night. . . Gauthier, 56, was then a bit more forthcoming, telling the officer that he met the boy through an ad he posted on Craigslist. In the ad, Gauthier characterized himself as a 43-year-old looking for man-on-man sex with "no strings attached." His ad received a...

GRASS VALLEY— A man was robbed by someone he says he was on a date with, Grass Valley Police are reporting Friday. Officers responded to the scene Thursday evening on a reported armed robbery at the parking lot of the Station House off of East Main Street. There, they found a 64-year-old man who said that he was on a date with 32-year-old Debbie Sutton when she and two other suspects – 25-year-old Ryan Weeks and a 16-year-old – conspired to assault him and take his wallet.

Saw this ad as Craig's List today. This is NOT my ad. I guess it is some farmer trying to get rid of his manure spreader.

It is entirely self-serving of me to point out that the classified ads in the Pioneer Press seem to be making a comeback, but I think we are past the point of pretending to hide my affection for newsprint. I am not claiming that the classifieds are as busy as a small-town telephone book, or even a small-town church bulletin. I am merely suggesting that I am noticing a revival of sorts, particularly in my fields of misadventure. In Classic Antique Autos for Thursday, June 7, for example, the category immediately following Volvo and just before 4WD Trucks, there was...

When you are trying pull off a casino heist, advertising on Craigslist probably isn't the best way to round up a crew. A man who said a Craigslist ad led him to take part in an attempt to steal high-stakes chips from a Vegas Strip casino amid a cloud of pepper spray is facing an evidence hearing in June. Comments

The TSA’s Freudian Craigslist Slip Either someone just attempted the subtlest of jabs at our nation's force of uncomfortably invasive rent-a-cops or the recruiters at the Transportation Security Administration need to invest in a better thesaurus. A job posting on the Ann Arbor, Michigan Craigslist invites would-be screeners to "[b]e part of a imperious security team protecting airports and skies as you proudly establish your future." Imperious, indeed. The Dictionary.com definition of imperious is "domineering in a haughty manner; dictatorial; overbearing." The definition from Google is even better, describing it as "assuming authority without justification." If it was a joke...

A new study from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism highlights an alarming trend among newspapers hoping to carve out a modicum of profitability through digital ad revenues: with very few exceptions, news organizations are failing to cash in on a lucrative form of online advertising. While it's long been held that utilizing consumer data to match advertisers with targeted consumers is "the strategy that many experts consider key to the future of digital revenue," the Pew study reveals, "With only a handful of exceptions, the ads on news sites tend not to be targeted based on...

Congressional support for controversial online piracy legislation eroded dramatically on Wednesday in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. Several key senators withdrew their support from the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA), including Tea Party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), an elected member of his party's leadership. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who leads the Senate GOP's campaign team, said the legislation should be put on hold, while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a sponsor and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, retreated from the...

I was unintelligent and posted an item on Craig's List for an amount that I thought it might move. I get a bite immediately and the guy haggles further to get me to include the shipping. My wife then hears what I've done and looks up on the internet a similar item listed for oh, say, 35 times more. How obligated am I to go through with the deal? The guy knows the true value of this item, where I did not. Now that I do, is it too late to renegotiate or am I obligated to receive his money...

Listings websites "really needs to clean up its act," sez Hizzoner The notorious “gun show loophole” that gives criminals and maniacs easy access to firearms has gone online. Undercover investigators for the city found thousands of guns - including one just like the 9mm Ruger that killed Officer Peter Figoski on Monday - being sold online by private peddlers who don’t have to perform background checks on buyers. Not only did investigators find it a breeze to buy pistols and assault rifles with no questions asked, but 77 of 125 sellers in 14 states agreed to complete the sale even...

The Occupy Movement has given us reporters plenty of fodder for good stories -- some informative and others entertaining. And while it appears Occupy SF has ceased to exist as a camp since police raided the encampment on Wednesday, there are still plenty of amusing stories to tell. For instance, this San Francisco guy is desperate to reoccupy the Financial District, which is why he is looking for someone to help him set up his tent -- and occupy it with him. So he did what any normal searching San Franciscan would do: He posted an ad on Craigslist. Although...