Rapist Who Choked Providers
Till Passed Out , Raped and Robbed Them
CONVICTED in Phoenix - Phoenix Private List Working with LE
For Sentencing Results see Rapist of Many Phoenix Providers Gets 109.5 years in Prison !!
From Phoenix Private List:
Ligidakis Trial - NEWS FLASH - July 11, 2005
On Monday afternoon July 11th the Jury returned its verdict - GUILTY ON ALL
COUNTS!
The sentencing phase starts tomorrow.
Mid trial he wanted to take a prior offered 40 years in prison plea bargain but
the County Attorney said no way, since the trial was going so well.
This was the person that attacked many providers, choking them to the point of
passing out, raping and robbing them.
Via the Private List, working with Scottsdale PD providers came forward and he
was quickly arrested.
Great job by the providers that testified last week at his trial. Thanks to
their testimony, this very dangerous person will be in prison a very long time.
Ligidakis Conviction Responses after
Special List of 7/11 announcing conviction
Mug Shots can now be posted (Prosecutor didn't want me to till trial over) and
are at
http://www.sexwork.com/Phoenix/rapist.html and on the Private
Discussion Board
Zillions of short "yippee" responses to the special mailing of the convicted
verdict.
Sample of a few:
"Yippee"
A couple gals provided this to the point response!
At the risk of sounding like an idiot on the internet, WOO HOO! Great job
ladies, police officers and legal system!
PlaymateMegan
Awesome news, Dave! I am so thankful for those providers who had the tenacity to
bring this criminal before a court for a possible conviction. Your bravery is
undeniable and I say, "Thank you for your selfless act of courage."
Ciara of Phoenix
That is GREAT news! Thank You, for keeping me up on this, I really do appreciate
it and hope the bastard rots in jail! Thanks, for being there for the Ladies,
you are a real jewel :)
Kelly
Hi Dave, Thank you so much , because if it was'nt for you getting the news out
there and publicly being on 'our side' , that guy mightve just kept doing crimes
because of the horrible way the Maricopa sheriffs office treats providers.( Just
an opinion!) Sometimes women like us just dont have a loud enough voice to make
the wheels of justice turn, and we need a guy like you to help. Thank YOU!!
Felicia
Here are mug shoots the County Attorney asked me not to post till after the trial:
===============================================
July 10 2005 Phoenix Private List Update
Ligidakis Trial - It is in process! Has gone to jury which is deliberating.
Bad timing since I was in Canada after all these delays. First the provider
victims testified and then the detectives on how they put the case together so
quickly.
It is now in the hands of the jury. So we hope we don't have some religious
right juror that thinks sexwork is so horrible they deserve to be attacked and
almost killed by the choke hold! There are many different counts which the jury
has to decide individually - like Michael Jackson case - but hopefully a
different verdict!
One provider says:
Suzanne (The Prosecuting County Attorney) did an incredible job not only do I
believe personally, but professionally speaking, she blew his case out of the
water. He did testify though and quite well I might add, then again he's had
almost 2 months of going over the police reports and our statements for him to
be able to get his testimony to be down pat! Lucky guy, except he forgets the
jury knows this as well. Anyways, now it is in the jury's hands so we shall pray
often and wait for them to hand over their verdict..
One provider had to testify for 2 days, another made the defense attorney sound
stupid and asked all sorts of irrelevant questions. From what I have heard the
provider/victims did a wonderful job and help up against the defense attorney.
The jury during the trial even submits questions to the various witnesses (I'm
reading this from the minute entries of the case).
I understand Ligidakis asked for a plea again but prosecutors said no way after
he turned down 40 years in prison before the trial.
The
letter received by the moved out of Phoenix provider was even admitted into
evidence when she testified and did great. The defense motion to not admit it
and suppress other evidence was all denied.
As one of the providers said, "I wanted to look and face my monster."
Another provider says via e-mail: The trial was/is not all I expected it to be,
but to be able to look directly at the man who raped me 2 years ago in the face
and stare him down gave me back what I hadn't realized I lost, that was control
of my life without being afraid of him anymore. In all honesty a great deal of
credit belongs to you for that... Had it not been for your support, not to
mention you being a virtual stranger to me, I'm not sure I would have had the
courage to come forward and report this crime. For that I thank you, and may God
Bless you for all that you did, much more than I think you may even know.
===============================================
6/26/05 Ligidakis Trial -
Update Arrests made !
Good news for a change. Two suspects have been arrested regarding the harassment
of the provider witnesses. Hopefully nothing more will develop to delay or
impede the trial.
I had a call from the Prosecuting County Attorney on my voicemail Sunday but
left office number to return call Monday. It sounds like the trial is about to
begin from the message about my testimony (I previously had told them I will be
in Canada 9 days starting Tuesday)
===============================================
6/19/05 VERY SERIOUS APPALLING DEVELOPMENT
Ligidakis Trial - Update
The provider victims/witnesses are being offered protective police custody.
Jailhouse phone calls indicate a serious threat. $5000 paid to someone to track
provider who is now out of town. She calls me to discuss which I welcome being
whatever help I can.
Most of the provider victims have also received intimidation letters and phone
calls. Letters have been turned over to local police (Scottsdale and out of town
providers police).
The County Attorney's office who I originally contacted with intimidation
information is working closely with Scottsdale Police who are doing extensive
police work and working with police in the city of the non Phoenix Provider (who
moved from Phoenix).
A previously active and loved List very popular provider who shared a location
with one of the Phoenix victims was discussed on wire taps of phone calls of
knowing some of the other Phoenix providers. They had her new address and
personal information per the wire tap. Scottsdale PD has warned her and she will
contact them of any suspicious activity.
The three provider victims still in Phoenix are being offered to me moved to a
unknown location with police surveillance to protect them. The provider who
moved out of Phoenix is exploring such protection in her city.
There are suspects from phone traces. My last information is search warrants are
being obtained and probably executed by now on suspects.
Scottsdale PD called me with latest information since I was so much in the
middle of it before, wanting to be sure anyone with any information contacts
Scottsdale PD - the nice women officer working with "our Sgt Bruce". If anyone
has information I can provide you with direct line to the Scottsdale Police lead
investigator.
Now it is the County Attorney's office that is buried in trials and has to delay
the start of the trial. Maybe jury selection will begin next week but not for
sure.
Ligidakis is back with a private attorney after dropping various public
defenders and an initial private attorney. But none of the witnesses have been
deposed by any of his attorney's. I assume we all got the letters about if
contacted for a deposition to notify the County Attorney since they want to be
present. But there have been none. We can't imagine what this guys defense
strategy could possible be with so much evidence as long as the witness/victims
testify which will be supported by DNA, physical and phone call trace evidence
linking him to the attacks. That may be why he is desperately trying to get rid
of the witnesses.
One odd harassment call was made this week to a provider victim from a women who
says she was also a victim but doesn't want the provider to testify so he will
get out of jail so she can get at him ! There is no women by the name the caller
used in the Police reports. Makes no sense at all but does have the out state
provider (with 3 children) almost afraid to be home since they know her address.
The police in her city have been contacted by the County Attorney and a full
investigation is under way. Our County Attorney's office is paying to bring the
provider back to Phoenix for the trial. The other three victim witnesses are
still in Phoenix.
One of the original five provider victims has disappeared and all the charges
related to her had to be dismissed. There are still 4 provider victims ready to
testify. Delaying the trial as long as possible and now the intimidation
Ligidakis seems to hope more provider witnesses would disappear and shows the
importance of victim/witnesses sticking it out or he could go free! Not to
mention what has been recorded on wiretaps being a major concern of the County
Attorney and Scottsdale Police.
Obviously this is a very serious situation and we all want to do whatever we can
to help LE assure the safety of the providers and get them safely to the trial
to put this very dangerous person in jail for a very long time -possibly life if
convicted on all felony counts and the four remaining provider/victims will
testify.
Dave in Phoenix
Phoenix-Tucson Private List Community
Promoting honesty, integrity and repeal of morality laws since 1996
From his arrest in 2004Phoenix: Rapist Attacking Providers Story Hits Media
I never sought out this publicity and in
fact I had hoped it would not be picked up by the media. But I was surprised it
hadn't been picked up from police reports long ago. The experience was terrible
for all the victims and they don't need to be reminded of it by the media.
Having to testify at a trial unless he takes a plea bargain with a long prison
term, will be bad enough for the victims. It will be interesting how hard the
family of the rapist will fight the charges with financial support for defense
lawyers.
Background of rush of media to be the first with
the story
Scottsdale Tribune reporter Toni Laxson contacted me late Friday. At first I was
hesitant to get involved with the media, but she was going to run the story from
the police reports anyway so I thought I would be cooperative. She had spent a
lot of time researching the story and was concerned that if I report on it
before it was published; other media might pick it up. She wanted to be the
first to get it published and picked up on the AP wire services where others can
run it but crediting Toni and the Tribune in the byline. The Tribune was also
the first to break the story about Sheriff having his deputies get naked and
more when busting the about 80 private sexworkers and lured in clients.
On Monday after I mentioned in the Sunday night Private List update that the
story would be published, I get an E-mail from a Channel 3 reporter (the one who
was on the Survivors TV show) wanting to talk to me. Toni doesn't think the
Private List was the source of the leak, but someone in the Tribune copy room. I
told Toni I would not talk to Channel 3 until she got the story out. But she was
still concerned Channel 3 would run it. The Tribune has a close relationship
with Channel 15 and gave them the story Tuesday not to be beat by Channel 3.
Channel 15 despite a very busy news day, squeezed in a quite well done segment
on the 10pm news. Channel 3 did not report it. The only problem with the Channel
15 report is they credited my Liberated Christians website with getting the word
out. They even showed someone keying in "Liberated Christians" very clearly seen
in the Explorer window (but incorrectly, its libchrist.com) and showed some
pages on the site. BUT my Liberated Christians site has nothing whatsoever to do
with sexwork. It is about Christian sexual issues related to and supportive of
swinging and Polyamory. The visual effect was quite creative, but it was the
wrong site, not where the warnings were issued to providers, which was the
Private E-mail List not a website.
The following Tribune story is very accurate. It may be picked up by the AZ
Republic via the AP. In this report I have changed by real name to “Dave in
Phoenix” that I prefer rather than my real name which was actually misspelled in
the article. Since I have conservative clients in my real business, I prefer my
real name not be so public. But since it was in the police reports as the source
of how the providers contacted the police, I can't avoid the reporter using it.
At least it was spelled wrong!
For information on the Phoenix-Tucson
Private List see:
http://www.sexwork.com/privateinfo.html
Suspect held in rapes of escorts
Publication: East Valley Tribune
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Page:1
E-mail service head aids police in arrest of Valley man
By TONI LAXSON TRIBUNE
(Dave in Phoenix - story used real name but not using it here) is an unlikely sex crimes detective.
Yet the Phoenix businessman, who runs a subscription e-mail service for "A-list"
(Dave notes should be "a list") escorts and their clients, had a hand in the capture of a man charged with
raping at least six escorts in Scottsdale and Phoenix, according to a police
report obtained by the Tribune.
The assailant "choked most of them until they passed out, and they woke up with
him raping them," (Dave in Phoenix) said. "A couple of them told me they thought
they were dying."
It was through (Dave in Phoenix) and his information clearing house that the
women realized their attacker had other victims, which eventually led Scottsdale
police to arrest Joseph Nicholas Ligidakis, a 28-year-old Phoenix truck driver.
"Everybody thought they were the only ones," (Dave in Phoenix) said. "And nobody
was going to the police."
The escorts feared police would either ignore their stories or try to charge
them with solicitation, he said. "Then I found someone who wanted very much to
talk to them — no matter what their profession was," he said.
That person was Scottsdale police Sgt. Bruce Ciolli, who assigned detectives to
the case and, with (Dave in Phoenix’s) assistance, found initial victims to
interview.
"The bottom line was that regardless of who the victims are, there was someone
committing a very violent crime," Ciolli said. "And we had somebody who was
increasing their propensity for violence with each crime. "We sought out these
victims through (Dave in Phoenix) and other victims, but we believe there may be
others who are just not coming forward."
Police on Aug. 13 arrested Ligidakis, who has since been identified in a photo
lineup by at least four of the women and whose DNA matches that from a condom
left at one rape scene, according to the report. Ligidakis has been held without
bail in Maricopa County’s Madison Street Jail in Phoenix since his arrest
because of a prior federal conviction, a jail official said.
Ligidakis, who was indicted by a grand jury Dec. 2, faces his initial pretrial
conference Jan. 29 on 23 charges that include sexual assault, kidnapping and
aggravated assault, said Bill FitzGerald, spokesman for the Maricopa County
Attorney’s Office.
Adam Horan, Ligidakis’ attorney, declined to let his client be interviewed and
would not discuss the case. "I can't, obviously, disclose anything, any details,
at this point because of the pending criminal charges," Horan said. "And he is
looking at many, many years — if he is convicted — in prison."
Ligidakis is the son of Nikos "Nick" Ligidakis, a Scottsdale restaurant owner,
philanthropist and publisher. The Greek immigrant, owner of the Authors’ Cafe
and Inkwell Productions, is a master chef and author of cookbooks and
inspirational writings. For years he has hosted free dinners for the homeless at
his restaurants, and in 2001 founded the Children’s Pen Foundation, a nonprofit
educational program to help sixth and seventh-graders develop writing skills by
composing short stories and poetry on the theme "What kind of hero does our
world need today?"
Reached at his restaurant at 4014 N. Goldwater Blvd., Nick Ligidakis said the
arrest of his younger son has been painful for the rest of the family, none of
whom have had any brushes with the law. "I have two other children who don't
even have traffic tickets," he said. "All my life I have tried to do good, so I
don't know what to say. If he has done wrong, he needs to pay the consequences.
But I still love him."
Steve Ligidakis, the suspect’s older brother, said publicity regarding the case
will taint the rest of the family, their children and their businesses. "Because
it is such a recognizable name. If I was Steve Smith, I wouldn't worry about
it," he said. "It’s nothing less than a tragedy to us."
Police say Joseph Ligidakis robbed his victims of money and cell phones and
threatened to kill them and their families if they told authorities, according
to a summary of the assaults that started in early 2003.
The rapes began as arranged transactions with a man who called the escort
services in response to advertisements in a newspaper. As soon as the women
turned away from the man, he would choke them until they passed out.
Family and friends told police Ligidakis holds a blue belt in Brazilian jujitsu
— a martial arts discipline that teaches a choke hold that cuts off the blood
and oxygen supply to the brain. Steve Ligidakis told police his brother was very
proficient and "never lost a competition match."
Many victims started to cry when they identified Ligidakis’ picture in the photo
lineup, police said.
Detectives tracked down Ligidakis after obtaining a search warrant for the
escort services’ telephone records, which led them to the cell phone used to
make the appointments, police reports said.
Kim Yedowitz, who oversees a team of nurses specifically trained in treating sex
assault victims, said men who prey on prostitutes often assume their victims
will never contact police.
That assumption backfired this time, she said.
"I think because police know that prostitutes, escorts, are going to be easy
targets," she said. "I don't think they are as colored by myths that other
people hang onto — you know, that wives and prostitutes can't be raped. They
know it does and will happen."
1/8/04 Chan
15 Reporting Comments on Dave's Interview & Tribune Article
Wed night 10pm they were going to try and do more of my interview but turned out
very brief. I thought they were creative to show the List with the big alert
warning the took from my computer screen. They only aired sound bite of me
saying how dangerous the attacker was and commentary was fairly good on how the
List members spread the word which resulted in his arrest.
Wed 6pm newscast was as brief but used my sound bite on why providers were so
hesitant to come forward. I was amazed how fast they put the story together
since they had done about a 15 minute taping/interview session at my office that
ended around 5pm. Obviously they just took a couple key sound bites to air since
had such limited time.
Tues 10pm was probably the best more complete story before my interview, other
than they said falsely it was the Liberated Christians website that the word
went out.
Best of all for completeness and accuracy was the East Valley Tribune article.
My only real surprise was I have no idea where they got the expression "A-list"
escorts. I was saying private escorts.
I am getting tons of E-mail very supportive including some saying "you are my
hero"! I didn't seek the attention but appreciate the good response. Many notes
from non List escorts also very supportive. Oh yes...Tman .. even sent me a nice
note! I hope this satisfied, I think it was "Dan or Danny" who on another board
accused me of making the whole thing up at the time to promote the List, since
there was no new coverage at the time!
A few of many comments:
It is a little spooky that the police have access to the providers cell phone
info. Seems that there is a possibility that Joe A. could get carried away and
arrest all of us since he is so all knowing and wise. I know that is far
fetched, but what has been happening is a bit spooky. BTW, Good Job!
Dave says, I think they needed a search warrant to serve on the cell phone
company based on the fact he had called some of the victims cell phones. It was
about a definite specific felony crime. I don't think they would be able to get
a warrant for a fishing expedition for clients calling a provider.
-------------
I saw the story in this mornings EVTrib and thought right away that it was well
written and was rather innocuous to our community. Really the only thing I would
have liked to see not written was the simple fact that there is a "subscription
e-mail service for "A-list" escorts and their clients". But, of course it
prefaces how the story came to light and without knowing that piece, readers
would be left wondering how all parties came to know of the others.
One thing I was surprised about and quite impressed with was the cooperation
from the family thus far. They seem to be admitting that their family like so
many others has problems and that they aren't making any excuses thus far for
his conduct. So many other families in this instance would have come out
defending him or making excuses or pointing blame in other directions.
I am quite certain at this point that you will have a months worth of hounding
and media attention and crack-pots calling on you to find out all they can about
the list and other issues, and that will be a burden. I, for one, want to thank
you for taking on that burden and doing the right thing with respect to these
ladies safety. I know there was never a second thought as to what to do when you
found out what was going on.
Regards, JB
-----------
I am sure that there are people who still have their silly comments about you.
But this should go a long way in quieting them. The truth is you stood up at a
time when you were needed. I am proud to know you and thank you for watching
over our girls.
Rick
---------
hey dave, saw you on channel 15 tonight...the man in shadow ... was a good
little segment however too short and not really very informative. but you were
wonderful! also, thank you for the info updates you send out!
Dave notes, since I didn't want to be seen by my conservative clients they were
very good about shadowing me. I have mixed feelings about this since I am not at
all ashamed about what I do, but I don't want to have it hurt my real business
and my partner is concerned as well. Actually, I used my partners office in case
they say more of the office and a client would recognize it. They did go to my
office and do the zoom shots on my computer of the List, and ... tight shot of
my hairy hands on the keyboard ! I thought it was sort of creative. But the 10pm
sound bite was the shortest and think the earlier versions of the report were a
bit better than the final at 10pm
---------------
Dave in Phoenix
Phoenix-Tucson Private List Community Since 1996
http://www.sexwork.com/privateinfo.html