Man Accused of Trying To Sell Kids On Craigslist

crimeandpunishment writes "You can get a lot of good deals on Craigslist, apparently including children. A New York State man has been arrested for allegedly trying to sell his children on the online marketplace. From the article: 'State Police Investigator Bryan Blum said Joshua A. Stagnitto, 24, was charged with one count of third-degree falsely reporting an incident, a misdemeanor, after a report was made to Monroe County Child Protective Services advising them of the posting on the online marketplace. The posting indicated a person was selling their children. Police said an investigation revealed Stagnitto was the source of the posting.'"

Comments

Father of the year award

[Monkeedude1212]

Oh dang, the punchline is the title... What do I put in the body?

Sell on Craigslist?

[tacarat]

Freecycle.org would have been better.

Good Job Samzenpus!

[MaskedSlacker]

Am I the only one that notices that the summary contradicts the title? Title says he was arrested for selling his kids, summary says he made a fake posting for selling his kids and prank called the police about it. WTF samzenpus, more sloshed than usual today?

Re:Good Job Samzenpus!

[clone53421]

And here’s a quote to back up my claim:

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/brockport_man_posted_children.html

Stagnitto was charged with third-degree falsely reporting an incident, a misdemeanor, because he allegedly creating public alarm by posted false information [SIC], that he wanted to sell his children, Blum said.

The false report was that he wanted to sell the kids. It was false, it caused public alarm, and they’re charging him with falsely reporting an incident.

And yes, “he allegedly creating public alarm by posted” is word-for-word what they reported. WTF, OMG, etc.

idiot police

[corbettw]

So now it's illegal to have a sketchy sense of humor? Isn't this sort of thing protected by the First Amendment? It's not like he actually went through with trying to enslave his kids or anything.

Here's hoping a judge tosses this pile of nonsense quickly.

Re:idiot police

[clone53421]

Actually, it never says he made the report. The illegal part wasn’t his “sketchy sense of humour”, it was posting a prank ad that would’ve been highly illegal if it was real.

“They were in no danger of being sold at any time,” O’Donnell said. “We made sure they were safe, and they are.”

Blum said the boys continue to live with Stagnitto and their mother, his fiancé, in Brockport.

Although Stagnitto claimed the ad was a joke, O’Donnell said it was not funny.

“What he did caused public alarm,” he said. “We hope he understands the seriousness of his actions.”

It’s no different from calling in a fake bomb threat. The police have to take action because they don’t know it’s a prank until they investigate. And you WILL get in trouble for it, even though you didn’t really plant a bomb. You’ll get in less trouble than if you had really planted the bomb, but you WILL be in trouble.

We Need Smitty and URL

[Anubis350]

You're under arrest for child cruelty, child endangerment, depriving children of food, selling children as food and misrepresenting the weight of livestock.

Buy kids?

[NovaHorizon]

Who would want to buy a self inducing debt system? That's the worst deal on craigslist.

I think the reporter is confused (as is /. poster)

[Hubec]

It's really hard to tell exactly what's going on here based on this messed up article, but I think I've figured it out: Santiago makes a hoax posting on craigslist hoping for a media firestorm. Nobody notices. Santiago reports the posting to Child Protective Services intending to stoke the fire. Police figure out he's the guy that made the original posting which is obviously a joke and charge him with making a false report for wasting their time.

Am I close?

Re:Adoption vs. Selling

[Explodicle]

Adoption is supposed to be in the child's best interest, while selling is is supposed to be in the buyer and seller's best interests. I will now summarize the next response, to save time.

"HUUURRRR DUUURG adoption is BAD becuz the GOVERNMENT fucks it up!"

Re:Falsely reporting an incident?

[BattleApple]

I think it falls under this:

A person is guilty of falsely reporting an incident in the third degree when, knowing the information reported, conveyed or circulated to be false or baseless, he: 1. Initiates or circulates a false report or warning of an alleged occurrence or impending occurrence of a crime, catastrophe or emergency under circumstances in which it is not unlikely that public alarm or inconvenience will result

http://law.onecle.com/new-york/penal/PEN0240.50_240.50.html

Re:Further...

[spun]

and PopeRatzo is still gay and retarded.

Translation: AC feels threatened and is attempting a dominance ploy. But seeing how little skill the AC has with dominance displays, he is obviously a juvenile of the species. Perhaps he should wait until his testicles drop before threatening the silverbacks.

Re:Further...

[Columcille]

I swear I'm not him. I'm in the high 5 digits.

According to Steven Wright

[Huzzah!]

"I went to the movie theatre. The sign said 'Children 12 and under - $5.00'. I said, 'Give me two girls and a boy.'"