Richmond, Calif. Facing a handgun in an unfamiliar alley in Richmond, with no good excuse for being there, the man quickly handed over his wallet and keys. The robber tossed the keys to the girl, whom the victim had hoped to pay for sex. The pair then left in his car. Not in Richmond, anyway, where detectives recently have fielded more reports than usual of Craigslist-related muggings, particularly involving prostitutes who advertise on the Web site and their customers.
And local police can vouch for it. On Saturday, for example, police say someone expecting to sell shoes to a Craigslist customer instead was beaten with a rifle and carjacked.
In July, people selling hooded jackets on the site lost 11 of them to gunmen near a Target store in Walnut Creek. But Richmond police really want people to know about the risks of patronizing โ or posting โ sex ads on the site. Prostitutes responding to customers in Richmond also have been targets. Police ask victims to report such robberies. Although they make no promise of discretion, they do view robbery as a more serious crime than solicitation. Police investigated several Web-related muggings of prostitutes last year in Richmond, including a string of three in June that resulted in arrests, Detective Sgt.
Mitch Peixoto said. The attackers mugged and later released the woman. On June 21, a prostitute with a male driver got a similar call to the same address. As she walked up the block, gunmen similarly attacked her; one jumped in the car with her driver, robbed him and ordered him to start driving, Peixoto said. The victim and robber wound up in a struggle for the gun, which fired once, and the robbers fled.
Police also made two arrests after the Jan. The victim, whom police would not identify, made a date to meet in the parking lot of a San Pablo business, Rood said. He met the woman a little after 8 p. That includes prostitution and thieves.
