• On TechRepublic: Why VISTA HATERS will love Windows 7
March 25, 2008 2:35 PM PDT

Another house ransacked from Craigslist ad

by Desiree Everts

Most folks recall the story about the Tacoma, Wash., house that was trashed after a woman posted an ad on Craigslist telling people to "please help yourself to anything on the property."

Well, some mischief maker in Jacksonville, Ore., apparently decided to re-enact the Tacoma house-trashing scheme. According to this Associated Press story, Robert Salisbury came home to nearly 30 people rummaging through his barn and front porch. Not only that, when he told the trespassers to give him back his belongings, he was rebuffed.

"I informed them I was the owner, but they refused to give the stuff back," Salisbury told the AP. "They showed me the Craigslist printout and told me they had the right to do what they did."

The Craigslist post advertised all of Salisbury's stuff--even his horse--as free for the taking. The woman who showed up to take his horse finally started to feel uneasy about the whole deal when she realized that the horse looked perfectly healthy, and well, seemed to actually belong to someone. She left a note on the door and then decided to call Salisbury to make sure that the ad was legit.

What's shocking is that of the dozens of people who pilfered his property, she was the only one to catch wind of the scheme. Come on, people.

By the time the police showed up, the plunderers had already crammed their cars full of Salisbury's stuff and taken off.

Investigators are still trying to track down the person who posted the ad--and it could likely be someone Salisbury knows. The Tacoma incident, after all, was fueled by a family feud.

Desiree Everts is an associate editor at CNET News who has focused on the digital media and telecommunications industries. E-mail Desiree.
advertisement
Click here!
Recent posts from News Blog
Neil Young Archives Blu-ray: Rip off?
Acronis revises survey results about backup habits
Acronis miscalculates data on users' bad backup habits
Flickr co-founder presses beta button
Comcast, Sony open retail store
Cox to try coaxing the Internet into submission
Was InfoWorld's CTO of the Year award a year late?
VMWare VI4 renamed to vSphere
advertisement

Making sense of Windows 7 upgrades

faq The basics and the fine print on Microsoft's options for those eyeing the next operating system from Redmond.
• Full Windows 7 coverage

Road Trip 2009: Big Sky Country

CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman takes his car full of gadgets to the Rockies and the Great Plains in search of tech, science, nature, and more.
• America's Fortress: Cheyenne Mountain

About News Blog

Recent posts on technology, trends, and more.

Add this feed to your online news reader

advertisement
advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right