Craigslist policing questioned after NC rape case

[June 05, 2009]  KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (AP) -- Craigslist has eliminated its criticized "erotic section" and pledged to screen entries to its replacement, but Connecticut's attorney general asks whether it's enough following the case of a husband accused of using the site to solicit his wife's rape.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who has been fighting to curb Craigslist's erotic ads, said the company is supposed to be monitoring all ads and blocking ones that promote prostitution or are sexually explicit. He said he would ask Craigslist for information about the ad in the North Carolina rape case and go to court to get it if necessary.

"I want to know how the ad was articulated... I think this instance, like others, simply supports the demands and requests we've made over time for stronger oversight and scrutiny," he said Thursday.

The 25-year-old husband from Kannapolis faces first-degree rape and other charges in the attack on his wife in the bedroom of their home, police said. They accuse him of using Craigslist to fulfill his own fantasy by finding someone to rape his wife at knifepoint while he watched.

The woman called 911 after the attack Sunday and police arrested her husband, saying his statement didn't add up. She told The Associated Press that she is traumatized and that she didn't know about it ahead of time.

"You don't know what I'm going through," she said, shaking her head as she stood on her front porch. "This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

Her husband was being held on $200,000 bond. The AP, which generally does not identify victims of sexual assault, is not naming the man to avoid identifying his wife.

Police in Kannapolis, about 25 miles northeast of Charlotte, said the husband told them he found his wife's attacker by responding to at least two personal ads on Craigslist and acknowledged that she didn't know about it. They couldn't say if the attacker was paid.

"The guy is just a freak," Police Capt. Chuck Adams said.

Experts say the case is likely to lead to more questions for Craigslist, which has faced criticism for its "erotic services" section.

"We share the public's horror that such a crime was committed, and our heart goes out to the victim," Craigslist spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best said in an e-mail Wednesday.

A phone message and e-mails seeking answers to specific questions weren't returned Thursday. Police have said Craigslist is helping with its investigation.

The company agreed to do away with the erotic services section last month after a Boston medical student dubbed "the Craigslist killer" was charged in the death of a woman who offered erotic massage through the site. The company has pledged to screen submissions to a new "adult services" section before posting them. Investigators could not say which section the ads the husband responded to were in.

"Craigslist is suffering a little bit from a pile-on effect here because of all the criticism that they've gotten before this," said Matt Zimmerman, a staff attorney for Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based digital rights advocacy group. "If this was someone who met someone through a Yahoo personal or any other place that allows people to communicate directly without a background check, I don't know if they would be getting the same level of criticism."

Some people will always use the latest technologies to seek out people for risky behavior, he said, but if something goes wrong, companies like Craigslist shouldn't shoulder the blame.

The woman who was raped said she didn't want to discuss details about the case because it was too painful. She said friends and family members were helping her.

Police said the husband was in the room and the couple's two young children were home but unaware of what was happening. The woman was treated at a hospital and released.

Police are still looking for the attacker but aren't saying whether he'll face charges.

[Associated Press; By MITCH WEISS]

Associated Press writers Estes Thompson in Raleigh, N.C., and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this story.

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