Man Busted For Craigslist Sex Barter Offer

MARCH 13--Meet Stan Syring.

In need of a 16-foot trailer for a flat-bottom boat, the Iowa man went on Craigslist and posted an ad proposing a barter deal in the site’s “For Sale/Wanted” section.

What Syring allegedly offered in exchange for the trailer resulted in his arrest this week, according to police.

The Craigslist post by Syring, a married, 37-year-old father, noted that the boat trailer was needed “asap,” and that the poster “will trade for sex if need be.”

After Marion Police Department officers learned of the online ad, they exchanged e-mails with the Craigslist poster discussing whether the offered act would be oral or anal sex. The parties agreed that detail would be settled when they met in person, according to police.

During a subsequent meeting with a male undercover officer, Syring “offered his services as a partner in a sex act in exchange for a boat trailer,” according to a District Court criminal complaint.

Investigators allege that Syring also agreed to give the cop $25 (in addition to the sex act, which is not further described in court papers). A used 16-foot boat trailer typically sells for several hundred dollars.  

Syring was subsequently arrested and charged with prostitution. He was booked Monday into the Linn County jail on the misdemeanor count, and was released from custody the following day. (1 page)       

Malaysian Flight 370 Plane For Sale On Craigslist, Only $70

Malaysia Airlines 777 pops up on Craigslist, and for just $70

Although it's clearly a gag, it might be worth putting together 70 bucks to try to buy this, just in case we live in a computer simulation that's just been infected with a crazy virus.

by Eric Mack

 March 16, 2014 10:30 AM PDT

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When converted from Vietnamese dong, the most sought after plane in the world is advertised on Craigslist for $70.

(Credit: Craigslist / Screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET)

Leave it to the Internet to yet again capitalize on a mysterious tragedy for the sake of a scam, a punchline, or both. Reporting on the bizarre disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 has bounced all over the place over the course of the past several days, with theories on the fate of the Boeing 777 airliner ranging from a hijacking or terrorism to pilot error and an even wider range of conspiratorial hypotheses.

Fortunately, Crave has tracked down the plane. It's currently for sale on the VietnamCraigslist for $15 million.

Actually, it should go without saying that the "Slightly used Boeing 777-300" offered with "not much fuel" and including "all the snacks in the plane" is just a rather insensitive joke. If you don't think that's immediately obvious, I'd also point out that the poster didn't seem to realize that there's a difference between US dollars and Vietnam's currency, the Dong. The listing headline asks for just 1.5 million dong for the plane. That's about $70.

Then again, maybe it would be worth putting together 70 bucks for the one in a billion chance that it gets us the most sought-after plane in the world. After all, there's a chance we're all just part of a computer simulation anyway, and what if that simulation has a serious bug in it centered somewhere in southeast Asia?

Related stories

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Alas, a phone number is omitted from the ad.

But it does highlight the rather ridiculous media treatment this story has been getting, with mainstream outlets jumping all over each and every thin hypothesis put forward by supposed experts or officials, only to be rebuked time and again.

This is what happens with a big story that keeps rotating through the 24-hour news cycle within a near total fact vacuum.

I've heard normally reputable journalists discussing the possibility that the plane landedseveral days ago, without addressing the clear lack of contact that the hundreds of passengers on board have had with the wider world for the past week, or how an isolated island big enough for a 777 to land on it has been missed amid all the search efforts.

As the old saying goes, if you'll believe that story, I've got a Boeing 777 in Vietnam I can sell you.

Topics:

Internet

Tags:

Malaysia Airlines,

Craigslist

Eric Mack

Crave freelancer Eric Mack is a writer, radio producer, and podcaster based in Taos, N.M., but he lives in Google+. He has written e-books on both Alaska and Android. E-mail Eric.