Man charged in Craigslist sex scam

SALT LAKE CITY — Warning to Craigslist users: Beware offers of sex.

According to charges filed Tuesday in 3rd District Court, two men made arrangements on separate occasions to have sex in Utah with a woman they had met on the popular classified-advertising Web site, and both times, a West Valley City man entered their vehicles and robbed them of possessions.

Shawlee Tuli Ama, 21, has been charged with two counts of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery, both first-degree felonies.

The incidents started with Ama using a cell phone with an 858 area code and pretending to be a woman. He arranged to meet with each man at a residence at 5004 W. Cherrywood Lane in Taylorsville, according to the court documents.

When each man arrived, Ama in both cases got into the vehicle, showed a handgun and ordered the man to drive to an ATM, the charging documents said.

In the first case, the man proved his account balance was negative and was robbed of his wallet and an iPod Touch worth $200, the court documents said.

The next day, Ama tried the same stunt, but the driver swerved his car to hit a Salt Lake County Unified Police Department patrol car traveling east on 4700 South, West Valley Police said after the Dec. 21 incident.

Ama took off on foot but was later apprehended at a residence near 2700 West and 4700 South. He was carrying possessions belonging to each of the two men, police said. He was booked into Salt Lake County Jail that night.

Officers later visited the Cherrywood Lane residence, where they determined the person living there was not involved, according to the charges.

The first victim had seen a news story on the Internet about the second incident that happened the next day and said he recognized the person arrested as the one who had robbed him, the charges state.

Ama is being held on $500,000 bail.

e-mail: lgroves@desnews.com