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Some Cragislist ads advertising 'intimate services' as way to pay rent

Posted at 7:07 PM, Mar 21, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-21 21:07:43-04

DENVER -- 57-year-old Alexandria St. Cyr, who lives with a traumatic brain injury, was looking for a roommate after her son’s plans to move out. She says her TBI could cause her to be unbalanced at times.

“Living alone is very isolating just in case you fall and you can't get up,” St. Cyr said.

She went online and posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a roommate to move into her two bedroom apartment. But she got more than what she bargained for.

“I got an email from a guy offering me housing with a 'friends with benefits' type of arrangement,” St. Cyr said. She began scrolling through roommate ads and noticed quite a few of them were sexual.

“The picture and the ad speak for themselves,” St. Cyr said.

We searched for roommates ourselves and found while most people are willing to pay for rent, some are willing to pay in other ways. Some offer to pay through performing intimating acts.

Police tell Denver7 ads involving a vague term like "intimate" or offering to be friends with benefits aren't illegal because they don't fit the legal definition of prostitution.

Police aren't calling such ads a trend, but they say it's always a good idea to exercise caution when dealing with people you've never met before.

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