Craigs List Warning

[Guest mondo]

CL can be a great place to meet guy for pay and for free play. I have met a few and others here have also met several guys. In fact I think James is an honary charter member :0 But there is a downside especially if you're like me and enjoy twinks.

 

I place a ad and recevied a response from a 18 y/o Asian guy. He sent a pic that looked very hot but he looked quite young. Anyway, we are emailing each other and that led to IM'ing each other ... and the more I had contact with him the more I felt I was being set up. So tonight I asked him to bring his driver's license with him for our plan meeting. I mentioned that he looked very young and that I simply wanted to be certain he was 18 or older. He then had too many excuses why he couldn't bring his license none made any sense.

 

Guys this was a cop setting me up ... I know this for fact. I'm not sure of the legal issues since he claimed several times to be 18y/o but I do know I am not into minors and have no interest in meeting someone who isn't legal age.

 

So be warned just like this place and just like life itself there are pople on CL trying to set us up. Maybe I will stick to 21 and over in the future to avoid this type of entrapment.

[eastbayguy]

>Guys this was a cop setting me up ... I know this for fact.

>I'm not sure of the legal issues since he claimed several

>times to be 18y/o but I do know I am not into minors and have

>no interest in meeting someone who isn't legal age.

 

Just out of curiosity, in what municipality did this take place?

 

--EBG

[Guest mondo]

>

>Just out of curiosity, in what municipality did this take

>place?

>

>--EBG

 

This took place in Los Angeles.

[+ honcho]

Not to be too much of a wet blanket, but is there any possibility that the guy was not a cop, but an underage teen who wanted to have sex? or somebody who was of age, but was so totally in the closet that he wanted to remain completely anonymous?

 

I would also have refused to have sex with somebody underage, and also would have inisted on seeing a drivers license; but I'm just suggesting that merely by the guy getting wet feet doesn't necessarily mean you were being set up.

[Guest mondo]

Honcho you touch a few points that I reviewed before making the original post. A few times I felt it might have been a minor looking for some fun but the more I go over the way the conversation took place and some of the requests from the guy I stil am confident it was a cop.

 

One request that was completely off the wall was when he asked if I had a digital cam and i said yeah then he wanted pictures of my apartment to see what it looked like???

 

Naturally I could be wrong but I feel I'm right in the case. Thanks for bringing up a few points to review.

[Guest ncm2169]

Just my 2 cents worth, but at a time when local governments (including local Police Departments) are undergoing MAJOR budget cuts, is it realistic to think that they'd be using precious resources to target online escort/john activity? x(

 

Granted, John Ashcroft wants his eyes, ears and nose in all of our bedrooms, but I don't think he has the $$ to fund his witch hunt. Yet. :o

[Guest mondo]

>Just my 2 cents worth, but at a time when local governments

>(including local Police Departments) are undergoing MAJOR

>budget cuts, is it realistic to think that they'd be using

>precious resources to target online escort/john activity? x(

>

>

>Granted, John Ashcroft wants his eyes, ears and nose in all of

>our bedrooms, but I don't think he has the $$ to fund his

>witch hunt. Yet. :o

 

Not talking about the federal government were are talking about the LAPD. And this isn't a case of escort & john this is a case where an officer was posing as a minor to commit me to have sex with him so I could be arrested for soliciting a minor. This happens every day in the States ... this is not new or costly ... it is a witch hunt and the rules of entrapment seem to have taken on a more aggressive stance.

 

And for clarification, as I remarked above, I do not have sex with minors and do not want to have sex with minors. This guy claimed to be 18 but the pic he sent looked more like 15 or 16. When I asked for ID the "picture" became very clear.

[JamesK840]

The local cops will certainly go after any easy target they can, especially if the local news has any chance of covering it, and a "Will your family survive their next trip online, what you must know about a major prostitution ring right in your backyard, tonight at 10..." is exactly the kind of pap the news would focus on. But for cops to bust outcall johns would take a pretty big operation. Also remember vice is often separate from murder or burglary, so while I agree there are smarter things for police in general to spend time on, the vice cops will take what busts they can get in their assigned area without affecting the investigation of murder at all, plus Vice is often very well funded by drug forfeiture money (so they can get more drug forfeiture money, becomes a vicious cycle just like the drugs...).

 

All that said, this doesn't sound like a cop to me either. If the cop was trying to bust you for sex with a minor he *would not* have insisted he was 19. I think it's more likely you came across a junky or something that was planning to rob you, pretty good reason to not want to let you see his license and to want to get an idea of your apartment (I don't think cops would care, a bust is a bust).

 

Craig's List's anonymity is a great feature, but you have to be careful just like any other dealing with a prostitute, especially whenever you invite a stranger into your home. Making sure you have as much info as you can get first, including a phone number, is a good idea. If anything seems off, don't go through with it.

[Flower]

all the more reason to believe it was either a pure joke by a kid or otherwise, rather than a cop--for a cop to be telling you he was over 18 and therefore legal, doesn't make sense--why would he be doing that -- if he sets up the meeting under false representations that you could prove with email later would really hurt his prosecution--they're looking for people preying on kids--KNOWINGLY-- not the ones who aren't. Now If he was telling you he was 14 and you were going for it, then could be--but from what you describe, not a chance.

[Guest mondo]

> all the more reason to believe it was

>either a pure joke by a kid or otherwise, rather than a

>cop--for a cop to be telling you he was over 18 and therefore

>legal, doesn't make sense--why would he be doing that -- >[/font color=green]

 

to set me up maybe? When you think about all of the cops who pose as kids on the internet isn't this the same thing? Pretending to ne legal age yet sending me a pic that clearly isn't someone of 18 years then they arresst me?

 

I appreciate al the feedback but guys I really feel this was a cop. Too many things from pictures of my apartment to the photo to his willingness to be whatever I seemed to be into to the huge age difference, it just doesn't seem like a 18 y/o or younger would be interested. It seems to me that I was being set up.

 

But as I noted already I might be wrong though I am not taking any chances.

[Guest pyell]

I'm a lawyer, and the common law is similar in Australia and the USA on this issue.

 

If the police were setting you up for having sex with a minor, he would NOT have said he was 19 years old. You have to INTEND to commit the crime of having sex with a minor. Furthermore the principles of entrapment would apply here too. You can't be prosecuted for an offence you were enticed into committing that you would not otherwise have committed.

 

And think about it: how are they going to entrap you? With some 16 year old posing as a 19 year old? The police would have to prosecute themselves for aiding and abetting underage sex.

 

When I read your post I jumped to the same conclusion as others. This is genuinely a kid, he's under 18, and he doesn't want to be found out by producing a drivers licence.

 

Which is not to say that the LAPD might not use Craig's List to entrap people, but I suggest they'd do it a bit differently from this.

[VaHawk]

Well only you are privy to the email exchanges, but if there is any question in your mind then you made the right decision. However I have to agree with Flower, pyell and James8k?, I truly don't believe it was a cop trying to bust people hiring (I assume your ad was a hiring ad?) underage guys as the scenario in that case would be to state he was underage, not insist he was 19.

 

If it was some kind of prostitution sting, the age would not make a difference. And why do you single out CL for your warning? You could have the same experience on any site or chat room even if the guy responding is way over 19.

 

I believe you most likely ran across either a kid jerking your chain or someone posing as someone else, sending out fake pics casing you for a ripoff.

 

And there is even the off chance you encountered a genuine reply and the guy looks young for his age (not uncommon, especially with smooth young twink types). Just how much difference is there in the looks of a smooth twink at 18 (legal) and 17 (illegal), and are you really telling us you can tell the difference by a picture alone? And isn't the whole point of these sites, anonymity, so why would you possibly expect him to provide a legal id to a complete stranger? Did you offer yours first (don't bother to answer this one, I believe we all know the answer already).

 

Perhaps these type of sites are not where you personally should be looking for 18 yo boys, as it seems to be making you uptight (not without valid reasons man!). I would suggest that you stick to reputable agencies and escort sites as it would be less stressful for you.

[scott90746]

Could have been an informant MAYBE, but not a cop. Have to be 21 to be sworn in as a peace officer in CA....