Man Tries To Sell His Kids on Craigslist

New York State Police arrested Joshua A. Stagnitto, 24, of Brockport, NY on Wednesday for attempting to sell his children on Craigslist.

In the ad, which included photos his one and two year old boys, Joshua wrote: "selling my kids on the Craigslist black market....they're good for children slaves or for foot stools. $200 for both or $40 for one." He said the sale included a 12 pack of diapers and a dirty T-shirt.

Craigslist pulled the ad, Child Protective Services called police. Now, Joshua is charged with falsely reporting an incident.

He says it's all one big misunderstanding, the police don't have a sense of humor and are blowing the incident out of proportion because he was obviously joking.

"I was joking around, I thought I would get a laugh out of a couple people, and I just put it on there for a joke, you know?" he said. "I love my kids more than life. I'm not actually trying to sell them on line. I honest to God thought everyone would read it and think it was funny and that would be the end of it....The fact that I'm being charged for anything is so ridiculous, then the fact that they charged me with falsely reporting an incident. What incident did I report?"

But the cops are not laughing.

"When he initiates an advertisement that causes an alarm or a public annoyance, that is according to New York State penal against the law," State Trooper Mark O'Donnell said. "Similar to someone yelling out fire in a restaurant where there is no fire.....We as police officers can not just blow these types of things off. We don't know anything about the person who put the children on Craigslist, we don't know what condition the children were who were put on Craigslist, so we have to conduct an investigation."

Joshua plans to vigorously fight the charges and is all but certain he will win because "it's completely ridiculous."

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