SPOKANE, Wash. – Buying or selling any item on Craigslist comes with a well-known warning: only meet in a public place with other people around.
Two Spokane women however, even with those precautions, said they were still ripped off.
They picked a public location, but the man lured them to a more secluded area. That is why Spokane Police said it is a good reminder to pick a safe location, like their Hillyard precinct.
"Trust that gut instinct," said Spokane Police Officer Teresa Fuller. "If something's not quite right, go with that."
Court documents said one of the women posted an ad on Craigslist hoping to get tickets for an upcoming concert.
She told police she was contacted by a man named Josh Queen and a woman named Lace Queen. Police said they arranged to meet in the parking lot of a grocery store – where lots of people would be around – and agreed to buy the tickets for more than $500.
Upon meeting, the man said he still needed to go pick up the tickets and told the woman and her friend to wait with Lace.
From court, one of Lace's friends told KREM 2 News lace must not have known Josh never intended to sell the tickets.
"He always was trying to get people, he got me you know a time in there," said Jonathan Crisler. "So it's easy to think someone is a friend if he's good at playing the friend card and when he can he'll take advantage of you."
The victim told police the man then called her cell phone and convinced her to get in her car and follow Lace to an empty parking lot about a mile down the road.
"That's not reasonable at all," said Fuller. "If they can't bring the merchandise to where you want to be, to where you've determined is a safe spot for you it's time to back out of the deal," she said.
Once at the second parking lot, court documents said the man grabbed his pocket and said "Don't make me pull my gun out in front of my kids, just give me the money."
Fearing for her life, the victim handed over the money and the man took off.
In the Spring, Spokane Police opened up their Hillyard Precinct location as a safe spot for Craigslist transactions.
Cases like this one prompted us to check to see if people are actually using it, so far only a dozen or so have taken advantage of this option.
"It is a very public space, lots of traffic going by, lots of business in the area," Fuller said. "So that's really what you want to utilize is those places where a lot of people are going to be around."
