Craigslist under scrutiny in another sex case
Police say N.C. user hired man to rape his wife
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. - Craigslist is again under scrutiny after a North Carolina man was charged with using the popular online classified site to fulfill his own fantasy by finding someone to rape his wife at knifepoint while he watched.
The woman said yesterday she has been "traumatized" by the attack, which she did not know about ahead of time. It happened a month after Craigslist agreed to overhaul its policing of sex ads following a slaying in Massachusetts.
"You don't know what I'm going through," she said, shaking her head as she stood on her front porch. "This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me."
The woman spoke to the Associated Press a day after her husband was ordered held on $200,000 bond on charges including first-degree rape. The AP, which generally does not identify victims of sexual assault, is not naming the man in order to protect his wife's identity.
Police in Kannapolis, about 25 miles northeast of Charlotte, said the husband told them he found his wife's attacker by responding to at least two personal ads on Craigslist and acknowledged that she didn't know about it. They couldn't say if the attacker was paid.
"The guy is just a freak," Police Capt. Chuck Adams said.
Experts say the case is likely to lead to more questions for Craigslist, which has faced criticism for its "erotic services" section.
"We share the public's horror that such a crime was committed, and our heart goes out to the victim," Craigslist spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best said.
A phone message and e-mails seeking answers to specific questions weren't returned yesterday. Police have said Craigslist is helping with its investigation.
The company agreed to do away with the erotic services section last month after a Boston medical student dubbed "the Craigslist killer" was charged in the death of a woman who offered erotic massage through the site. The company has pledged to screen submissions to a new "adult services" section before posting them. Investigators could not say which section the ads the husband responded to were in.
The woman who was raped said she didn't want to discuss details about the case because it was too painful. She said friends and family members were helping her.
Police said she called 9-1-1 Sunday to report a man with a knife had raped her in the bedroom of her home. Police said the husband was in the room and the couple's two young children were home but unaware of what was happening.
The woman was treated at a hospital and released *