Digital Media

Update 7 p.m. on Friday: Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster issued a statement. You can read the story here.

Catherine is a 35-year-old sex worker in San Francisco who relies on Craigslist to reduce the physical risks often faced by a woman in her line of work.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart discusses during a press conference Thursday why he considers Craigslist a marketing tool for pimps and prostitutes.

(Credit: YouTube)

"Craigslist is important to helping us avoid violence," says the woman, who is originally from Europe. "Craigslist is a way to filter out that kind of person...and with Craigslist there is no need for pimps."

For people in her trade, she adds in a thick accent, "Craigslist is vital."

It is also why Chicago Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart on Thursday sued the popular Internet classified service, accusing Craigslist of being one of the largest sources of prostitution in the country.

In an interview with CNET News, Dart said that the kind of sex services being advertised on Craigslist frequently involves minors as well as people forced into prostitution against their will. The federal lawsuit filed by Dart's office claims that Craigslist's erotic section is a powerful marketing tool for pimps and prostitutes and makes it easier for criminals to elude police.

"This (lawsuit) was my act of last resort," Dart said. "We're seeing some outrageous stuff here that we hadn't seen before. Our people on the street have seen the volume increase. It's become much more complicated for us. We can debate the whole 'Pretty Woman' thing. If a woman decides that this is a viable choice for employment, but that isn't the ones we're focused on."

He detailed how women were performing sex acts while their children were unattended in the next room. Dart described the many juveniles arrested when police followed up on suspicious Craigslist ads.

"We arrested numerous juveniles over the last two years," Dart said. "What we found is that they weren't advertised as juveniles in most of them. We walk in to hear: 'You want a juvenile? We got a juvenile. You'll have to pay more but we have her for you.'"

At the same time, however, this is a story that underscores how one of the world's newest technologies has become a vital part of one of the world's oldest occupations. For the majority of Craigslist users--the millions who sell sofas, rent rooms, or find Spanish tutors every day--a steamy online brothel juxtaposed with Craigslist's plain-wrap classified pages may seem unlikely. But with the emergence of the Internet as a vital communications medium, it was only a matter of time before sex for hire infiltrated the listings on Craigslist as well.

A Craigslist spokeswoman said Thursday that criminal acts are rare at the site compared with the overwhelming amount of legal activity. She added that Craigslist helps law enforcement track down criminals every day. (In response to the sheriff's lawsuit, Craigslist can claim to be immune from liability thanks to Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act.)

Catherine, who has lived in the United States for 10 years, spoke with CNET News on the condition that she would remain anonymous. She asked to be identified in the article as "Catherine," after the actress, Catherine Deneuve, who played the role of a young housewife moonlighting as a prostitute in the film "Belle de Jour."

Taking issue with Dart's portrayal, Catherine argued that Craigslist provided a safety net for her and other sex workers who use the service to screen out prospective clients who may be violent. Craigslist and the Internet give her a chance to communicate with a client to weed out those she senses may not be acceptable.

If access to Craigslist's bulletin board listings was shut off, Catherine says that many sex workers would be walking the streets.

Craigslist and the police
Over the years, police have found that Craigslist's erotic services ads can actually be useful when pursuing criminal investigations.

A 2007 article in the New York Times reported that a covert police ad on Craigslist in November by Seattle police led to the arrests of 71 men, including a bank officer, a construction worker and a surgeon. Police in Jacksonville, Fla. posted a single ad that drew 33 responses.

In July 2006, Detective Brad Conners of the Santa Rosa, Calif., police department posted multiple messages on the local Craigslist site posing as women offering erotic services. One ad Conners posted as "Emily" offered oral sex for $100.

An ad he posted from a woman named "Summer" drew a response from a 39-year-old man named Christopher Scarberry, who used the e-mail address wolfnursehunter@yahoo.com. Even after learning that "Summer" was 13 years old, he agreed to meet her at a parking garage and said he would be driving a white Chevrolet Corsica.

Santa Rosa police arrested Scarberry, and discovered $145 in cash on his person. He admitted to responding to the ad, but during the subsequent trial objected to the detective's claim that the encounter clearly involved sex for money. (He was sentenced to probation and was required to register as a sex offender.)

Det. Conners nabbed another respondent the same month. Again using the name "Summer," Conners posted an ad saying: "i talked 2 sum of u last week but I wuznt able 2 meet w/ some of u. i made some last week and it wuznt so bad, so im tryin to make a little more, can u help me out? i dont have pics, but im yung, cute, and blond bjs 100."

This time Michael Harris, a 45-year old welfare investigator for the Department of Social Services in nearby Mendocino County replied. Using the name "hardbody_hercules," Harris typed: "I must have missed your ad last week, sounds pretty interesting. I'd love to know what's up. Want to fill me in on the details. I'm off work all day and need to get into something special, might that be you. Hit me up."

"Summer" replied by saying she was 13 and the two agreed to meet. Santa Rosa detectives posing as skateboarders arrested Harris at the parking garage, where they found $100 and four flavored condoms in his pockets. Harris was convicted of one felony count of attempting to commit a lewd and lascivious act on a child under 14.

In New York City, an FBI agent had the same idea, posting an ad on Craigslist that offered the "freshest, youngest girls."

Timothy McDarrah, the 43-year-old former "Hot Stuff" editor at US Weekly magazine, replied. He asked "what it'll cost for the cutest white 14 year old girl with a pony tail in the whole 8 grade." McDarrah agreed to pay $200 for oral sex on July 7, 2005, but never showed up to the rendez-vous.

He did continue to chat online with an undercover FBI agent posing as 13-year-old "Julie," and was eventually arrested, convicted of using a computer to entice a minor into having sex, and sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Police have also used Craigslist to identify--and arrest--sex workers.

Detective John Harrigan on the vice squad of the Long Beach Police Department replied to a Craigslist ad by "Katie," who offered $200 for "a nude rubdown," or $250 for "full service with protection," apparently meaning intercourse with a condom. The woman, Sandra Kole, and her pimp, Robert Pimental, were arrested. (Pimental was sentenced to three years in prison for pimping.)

A Craiglist investigation by the San Francisco Police Department zeroed in on advertisements for a 19-year old woman named "Stacy.' Police discovered that she was really 14 years old and staying with her pimp in a Quality Inn in South San Francisco.

As previously reported by CNET News, police began closely monitoring Craiglist's casual encounters section for evidence of human trafficking during the Republican and Democratic conventions. (Sex ads on Craigslist spiked during the Democratic National Convention in Denver.)

Neither the police nor advocacy groups interested in the topic found any evidence of human trafficking--meaning the involvement of people under 18 years old, or situations involving coercion--at either event. Nor was there evidence of additional prostitution, at least measured by the number of arrests.

Craigslist has pledged to implement new measures designed to discourage people from using the site's erotic services section for prostitution. The privately held company responded in November to complaints from state attorneys general that the site's administrators were allowing users to post ads for prostitution in violation of its own terms of service.

Craigslist managers said they would adopt new measures, such as requiring anyone who posted an ad in the exotic services section to provide a valid credit card and phone number. The idea is that anyone planning to break the law will be reluctant to identify themselves.

From what Catherine says, the measures are easily circumvented.

Dart said he might have filed suit earlier against Craigslist but was waiting to see what impact the preventive measures had.

He said: "They've made absolutely none."

Craigslist's San Francisco headquarters

(Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET News)

Updated at 1:55 p.m. PST to include quotes from Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, who was interviewed by CNET News.

Updated at 12:13 p.m. PST to include demands made in civil complaint filed by Cook County sheriff.

Updated at 12:13 p.m. PST to include comments from Craigslist.

The sheriff of Illinois' Cook County, which includes Chicago, filed suit in federal court Thursday against Craigslist, alleging that the Web's largest classifieds publication is "facilitating prostitution."

Sheriff Tom Dart has asked the court to force Craigslist to remove the Web publication's erotic section. Cook County also wants $100,000 in compensation for the man hours the county has had to pay police to investigate alleged criminal services being advertised on the site.

In an interview with CNET News following a press conference, Dart made clear that he isn't blaming Craigslist for prostitution in his county and said Craigslist is great for renting rooms or selling cars and hundreds of other legal uses.

But he said all the statistics shows Craigslist is the country's biggest marketing tool for the illegal sex trade and also makes it harder for law authorities to catch bad guys.

"I've said all along that I'm not blaming them for prostitution," Dart said. "What I am blaming them for is that one part of their site is being horribly misused. Either shut that part of the site down or put some real monitoring in place."

Craigslist, the Web's biggest publication of classified advertisements, promised in November to begin cracking down on ads for prostitution after coming under fire by several state attorneys general.

"Misuse of Craigslist to facilitate criminal activity is unacceptable, and we continue to work diligently to prevent it," said Susan MacTavish Best, a Craigslist spokeswoman. "Misuse of the site is exceptionally rare compared to how much the site is used for legal purposes. Regardless, any misuse of the site is not tolerated on Craigslist.

"Craigslist is an extremely unwise choice for those intent on committing crimes since criminals inevitably leave an electronic trail to themselves," Best continued. "On a daily basis, we are being of direct assistance to police departments and federal authorities nationwide."

Best said that Craigslist managers have yet to receive a copy of the complaint issued by the Cook County Sheriff's Office.

As for its potential defense in the sheriff's civil case, Craigslist can claim to be immune from liability under section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which says: "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider. "

Dart, who is sheriff of one of the most populous counties in the United States with about 5.3 million residents, said he has asked for help from Craigslist and done everything possible to negotiate with managers there. He said he held off filing suit to see whether the deal between the state attorney general would have any impact on the problem.

"Near as we can tell they have a total of about 24 employees," Dart said. "They freely admit that their policing and monitoring is all done by the participants. As I said, we can all act like we're idiots here but that gets old after a while. Are you trying to tell me that the people going to a prostitution site are going to be so horribly offended that they're going to register a complaint? No they're not.

"Just to prove my point we put our own ads on Craigslist," Dart said. "One of them read '15-year-old looking for sex,' and it got three hits including one from a convicted sex offender. We put up '14-year old looking for sex.' Nobody filed any complaints and that one was left up. So its clear there's no policing going on. Craigslist, part of your site is being misued. Work with me to rectify it. Monitor it and I'll go away."

CNET's Declan McCullagh contributed to this report