Man posted pot ad on Web, police say
By Zach Lowe
Staff Writer
Published February 1 2008
STAMFORD - Police arrested a Bridgeport man who posted an ad on Craigslist.org boasting about the "A plus" marijuana he had for sale, authorities said yesterday.
Officers spotted the ad and e-mailed the alleged dealer, claiming to be a Stamford painting crew interested in buying drugs during a work break, said Lt. Jon Fontneau, commander of the narcotics and organized crime squad.
The link leading to the full advertisement read, "Mary Jane in Fairfield County," Fontneau said.
The ad offered a half-ounce of "A plus" marijuana for $220 and the same amount of "B plus" marijuana for $160, Fontneau said.
The suspect, Steven Zahorsky, 24, of 820 Thorme St., agreed to sell three-quarters of an ounce of marijuana at the McDonald's at the Interstate 95 rest area off Exit 13, Fontneau said.
The police arrived just before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday and called Zahorsky's cell phone. He answered and agreed to meet at the McDonald's in 15 minutes.
An undercover officer waited in an unmarked car as Zahorsky arrived in a Lexus.
Zahorsky allegedly walked to the undercover officer's car window and exchanged the drugs for $320 in cash.
Stamford police, assisted by Darien officers, and arrested Zahorsky, Fontneau said.
Zahorsky said he was there to eat and had no idea why police were arresting him, Fontneau said.
Police found $320 on Zahorsky, Fontneau said. They seized his cell phone and saw the last incoming call came from the undercover officer's phone.
Zahorsky agreed to let police search his apartment in Bridgeport, where officers found three bags of marijuana and one bag of hallucinogenic mushrooms, Fontneau said. They also seized a shotgun, 118 rounds of ammunition and a digital scale.
Police charged Zahorsky with possession of more than 4 ounces of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of an hallucinogenic, operation of a drug factory and sale of marijuana.
They released Zahorsky when he posted $10,000 bond.
He is scheduled to appear Feb. 13 at state Superior Court in Stamford.
Nobody answered the phone at Zahorsky's listed number yesterday.
Craigslist.org posts classified ads and forums online for 450 cities worldwide, according to its Web site.
Ads are for jobs, housing, romance, advice and "just about anything," the Web site reads.
The San Francisco company, incorporated in 1999, gets more than 9 billion page views each month, the Web site states.
"Misuse of Craigslist for illegal purposes is absolutely unacceptable, and we continually work together with our users and law enforcement to minimize it on the site," Craigslist spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best said by e-mail. "Craigslist is a user-moderated site. Our 30 million monthly users monitor the site by very quickly flagging off ads that are against our terms of use."
The Web site posts a notice of a 2006 decision by the U.S. District Court in Chicago that online service providers such as Craigslist should not be liable as publishers of content submitted by users.
The court ruled against a group of lawyers in Chicago who sued Craigslist over 100 housing ads that appeared to be discriminatory.
Craigslist did not want to impose controls on users, according to the Web site.
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news...,3357484.story