Craigslist child sex ads lead to arrests

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MILWAUKEE Ń A 15-year-old girl who ran away from home in western Wisconsin sold sex acts in Milwaukee to men who found her ad and photo on Craigslist, according to court documents. The girl, who said she took a Greyhound bus from her home in Onalaska to Milwaukee in the fall, told detectives she had sex with 10 men in 14 days, earning $1,500, according to a search warrant unsealed this week. The popular classified advertising Web site Craigslist, better known as a place to sell things and sublet apartments, has increasingly become a marketplace for prostitution, including sex trafficking of children, raising alarm among law enforcement and prosecutors. "It seems like the more people we arrest off Craigslist, the more people post (prostitution) ads on it," said Capt. Timothy Burkee, head of the Milwaukee police Vice Control Division. Law enforcement on all levels are investigating such cases, noting the Web gives them plenty of clues to follow and charges to pursue, including child pornography. "The Internet is a good source of evidence in terms of photos and e-mail," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Leonid Feller from Detroit, where an online prostitution ring that advertised in Milwaukee and other cities recently was busted. "Obviously, the negative side is that it means child pornography is much more prevalent." San Francisco-based Craigslist doesn't allow illegal activity, including prostitution ads, but some public officials, including Connecticut's attorney general, say the company hasn't done enough to keep those ads off the site. A Craigslist spokeswoman said Tuesday the company discourages prostitution ads by posting warnings, blocking ads that contain certain words, asking users to flag illegal ads, cooperating with law enforcement and taking other precautions. "Our hearts go out to the victim and their family, and there is nothing more gut-wrenching to our staff than to hear Craigslist has been abused to exploit children," said Susan MacTavish Best of Craigslist. In another Milwaukee case, a man was sentenced last month to four years in prison for prostituting a 16-year-old girl, also on Craigslist. Rufus Jackson, 28, also was charged with having sex with the girl. In that case, Jackson took in the girl, also a runaway whose hometown was not listed. He began having sex with her and later forced her into prostitution, according to the criminal complaint. Jackson took nude photos of the girl and posted them on Craigslist, it says. Jackson beat the girl and threatened her by putting a gun to her head, demanding she make more money in prostitution, it said. She met men for sex at the Port Motel, 9717 W. Appleton Ave., according to the complaint, where an undercover officer found the 16-year-old in December. When officers went to arrest Jackson at his home, he ran and fought officers, the complaint indicates. It was unclear Tuesday whether Jackson was connected to the case involving the 15-year-old Onalaska girl. Milwaukee police found that girl's ad on Craigslist offering oral sex and other acts. She also was advertised as working with another female whose age was not listed in the warrant. Like the 16-year-old, detectives found the Onalaska girl at the Port Motel. Around that time, 33 advertisements on Craigslist offered prostitution in the Milwaukee area, about half of them from the 15-year-old girl, the warrant indicates. Police later arrested a 21-year-old man who paid for computer time at Kinko's copy center, enabling the girl to post her ad on Craigslist, according to the warrant, which sought surveillance photos from the Kinko's. That man, who also was prostituting himself, the warrant says, has not been charged. A man who answered a phone number listed to him hung up on a reporter Tuesday.