Woman Charged After Craigslist Posting Resulted In A House Stripped

Woman Charged After Craigslist Posting Resulted In A House Stripped

[link to seattletimes.nwsource.com]

By Brian Alexander

Seattle Times staff reporter


Pierce County prosecutors have filed charges against the niece of a woman whose house was stripped clean after a Craigslist.org posting advertised that everything in the home was free.

Nichole Blackwell, 28, was charged with second-degree burglary, malicious mischief and criminal impersonation for allegedly posting an ad that read, "Moving out ... House being demolished. Come and take whatever you want, nothing is off limits," on the online classifieds Web site, according to charging documents from Pierce County Superior Court.

It wasn't until six days after the ad was posted that Laurie Raye, owner of the home in the 1200 block of East 64th Street in Tacoma, checked on the house to find it stripped.

Nearly everything that wasn't bolted down — and some stuff that was — was taken.

People, thinking that they could remove whatever they wanted, grabbed the refrigerator, front door and kitchen sink, among other things, according to the documents.

Police believe Blackwell disliked Raye and was particularly upset because Raye had recently evicted Blackwell's mother from the house.

On March 24, Blackwell went with her mom to get some items from the home and returned home angry about how Raye was treating family members, so she posted the ad on Craigslist, according to court documents.

Brian Alexander: 206-464-2026 or [email protected]