ARTICLES

 

December 19, 2007
Police: Fake Web ads targeted rival

 

A North Miami-Dade real estate agent was charged Wednesday with posting fake escort ads on the Internet using a rival's phone numbers, sparking hundreds of raunchy calls that nearly drove the woman to a nervous breakdown. Dean Isenberg, 40, was booked into Miami-Dade County Jail at 12:09 p.m. He posted $10,000 bond late Wednesday. He faces four counts of using personal information to harass and one other count related to using a computer in committing a crime. He surrendered Wednesday morning. The cyber-stalking case began last summer when Debbie Blasberg reported receiving repeated calls at home from strange men. Blasberg, a married mother of three, said she received more than 700 phone calls ``at all hours of the night.'' Some callers asked her 11-year-old daughter for sexual favors. Blasberg was swamped with text messages propositioning her.

But during one phone call, Blasberg started crying. The caller admitted he'd found her number on Craiglist.com.

Isenberg -- who sells homes with his wife as the ''I-Team'' -- had posted Blasberg's phone numbers on more than 20 raunchy personal ads on the free website, Miami-Dade police said.

The ads promised that Debbie would make ''you go home with a smile'' for the right price.

Blasberg hired attorney Leah Mayersohn and private investigator Robert Crispin, who worked with Craigslist to take the ads down -- though they kept reappearing.

The ads had been completed using a Yahoo e-mail created in Blasberg's name.

Crispin quickly narrowed suspects to Isenberg. He began covertly digging through Isenberg's trash, usually about 4 a.m.

The key evidence, Crispin said, was a calender page with an IP address that matched one used to create the Yahoo account.

''It's really worked out perfect. . . . It's the oldest trick in the book,'' Robert Crispin, a former Coconut Creek detective, said of the trash digs.

Miami-Dade Detective John Jones, of the Intracoastal station, also began investigating. Nine of the 26 ads came back to an IP address that belonged to Isenberg. Investigators believe the rest of the ads had been done by laptop, accessing other people's wireless Internet service.

In June, Jones raided Isenberg's North Miami-Dade house, carting away computers.

''There is always a little bit of a trail. A little crumb and we were able to follow it back enough to get search warrants,'' Jones said.

Investigators found 'various portions' of the ads on his hard drive, including the photos of scantily clad women, Jones said.

First reported in The Miami Herald in July, the case drew national media attention with Blasberg appearing on Fox News and syndicated television programs such as Inside Edition.

''I believe in the end that a resolution will be reached that will satisfy all sides in this matter,'' said Isenberg's defense attorney, Andrew Rier.

"I believe that the charges as they stand now will be significantly reduced. I'm looking forward to a speedy resolution on this matter.''

Isenberg and Blasberg were former co-workers. According to a police report, Isenberg was upset that she had closed on a property he had been trying to sell.

Blasberg said Wednesday she is pushing for stiffer penalties for those convicted of cyberstalking.

''You know. It's bittersweet,'' she said. ``I'm happy there is some justice but it's not the justice I'd like to see.''