Boy For Sale follow up
By laglen
@laglen (19759)
United States
April 28, 2010 6:58am CST
A while back I posted a discussion about a Craigslist ad offering a boy for sale. Here is what is happening with that -
[i]A Craigslist ad offering a 4-year-old boy for sale for $5,000 was the work of a bored north Idaho teen, according to Sandpoint, Idaho, police.
Sandpoint Lt. Corey Cooon said he tracked the ad to a 17-year-old who said he posted it on the Internet site as a joke using a photo of a child he found on the Internet.
The ad's author claimed to be the boy's father and identified the child as "Gavin."
"He doesn't fuss very much, but when he does he just screams for hours. I usually just put him in his closet until he stops and that usually works," the ad copy said.
The listing also said the boy was "a great kid, but I can no longer afford to take care of him."
The teen wrote an apology letter over the weekend after Cooon confronted him at his home on Friday. The teen didn't realize the concern he caused or the time investigators spent trying to determine if the ad was a hoax or something sinister, Cooon said.
"He was home with nothing else to do, and he thought it'd be funny," Cooon said.
A Spokane, Wash., woman initially spotted the ad on Feb. 28 and soon alerted authorities. Craigslist removed the ad shortly after it was posted.
Spokane County sheriff's Deputy Damon Simmons used search warrants served on Internet service providers to track the computer that created the post to north Idaho, then turned the case over to Sandpoint police.
Cooon said he's investigating possible criminal charges, such as identity theft or fraud, and hopes to send his report to the Bonner County prosecutor's office by Monday.
The teen "doesn't come from a troubled home or anything like that," the officer said. "His parents were definitely concerned and shocked that he'd done it."[/i]
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/28/police-trace-boy-sale-ad-bored-idaho-teenager/?test=latestnews
Do you think the teen should be charged with the harshest charges? What should be his sentence? How much in County resources should be used to prosecute?
3 responses
@hofferp (4734)
• United States
28 Apr 10
I'd try and estimate the cost of the investigation and would "sentence" the kid to so many days of community service equal to the cost. The community service would be in an abused women/kids shelter or something to do with kids (boys/girls club, big brother, etc.). Basically, I see it as a good kid that did a dumb thing. Community service will remind him how dumb it was.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
6 May 10
it's amazing people don't think when they post stuff like that..or that it never occures to them it'll be traced back.
since there was no real child,it should be under malicious michief.fine and community service,possibly at a abused child center so he can see how unfunny it is.
1 person likes this
@lelin1123 (15594)
• Puerto Rico
29 Apr 10
I can't believe some kid out of boredom decided to do something so stupid. He should be fined and have to do 1000 hours of community service. Then he won't be bored anymore and creating pranks on the internet. Plus no access to the internet unless supervised.
1 person likes this




