eBay Bully Terrorizes Online Users

[bonkerguy]

SOURCE: wral.com

Accused eBay Bully Allegedly Terrorizes Online Users
Station Investigates Threats, Calls

SAN DIEGO -- Some consumers are discovering that when they bid on eBay, they're opening a portal to problems.

Tina Schimke and her husband, Dwayne, began having trouble with eBay when they placed a bid on a bike from what looked to be a legitimate seller, San Diego television station KGTV reported.

"He had quite an ad on the site -- it had lots of bikes. I admit, I didn't completely read the ad," Tina Schimke said.

When the Schimkes e-mailed back with a question about the shipping cost, the seller allegedly blasted them with a nasty e-mail.

"As soon as he got my e-mail, he was pounding the keyboard and venting," Tina Schimke said.

The anger didn't stop there, she said.

The seller allegedly left her a message that said, "Hey there, schmuck boy -- not answering the phone now?"

The alleged eBay bully was on a roll.

"I know exactly where you f---ing live. E-mail me again and see what happens to your little b---- a--," the accused bully said in the message.

"I was afraid this person was a maniac and was going to show up on our front door," Tina Schimke told the station.

The Schimkes aren't alone. This eBay bully had struck before, the station said.

He allegedly called the Burleson household 37 times.

Cindy Burleson and her daughter, both from Dallas, were also hammered over their questions about comic books the man was selling.

Cindy Burleson said the accused bully threatened her life.

"(He said,) 'I'm going to kill you. Scumbags like you shouldn't be allowed to live.' (He said) stuff like that," Burleson said.

These women and the Schimkes filed police reports but got no results.

So, the station went looking for the accused eBay bully and tracked him to a home in Cleburne, Texas, near Fort Worth, Texas. It's not only where he lives, but also where he does business.

Frank Esquitin, the name of the alleged eBay bully, also goes by the following eBay aliases: Old School Riderz, Cool Cat Cycles and Cool Cat Biker, the station reported.

He's been arrested on charges related to drugs, weapons violations and harassment, police records show.

A Dallas TV station tried to get a response from Esquitin, but no one answered his door.

Esquitin later told KGTV by phone that his accusers are deadbeats and sociopaths. He said that if he threatened them, they must have threatened him first.

Despite complaints, Esquitin is still on eBay.

The company said it assumes no responsibility for any encounters outside its Web site.

"I think I'll use eBay again, but I'll hesitate," Tina Schimke said.

Burleson and her daughter said they will tread more carefully after their experience with the alleged eBay bully.

"We were terrorized. He terrorized us. If he wanted to terrorize us, it worked," Burleson said.

[CoolCatBiker]

On July 16th, 2005 Dwayne Schimke, ebay user ‘Turnedtwo’ contacted me about a bike I was selling on eBay. He emailed saying that he wanted to come to my home and pick up the bike. I have clearly stated in all of my auctions that I do not allow people to pick up items. He admits himself that he ‘didn’t read the whole auction’ After a few emails were exchanged I told him I had blocked him from bidding, and asked him not to email me anymore. He was offended that I forbid him to bid on my auction, and continued to email me several more times after I had asked him to stop emailing me. Then I called his home, I used some choice words and told him to stop emailing me.

After that, he did not email me anymore and I did not email him or call him anymore. I thought this was the end of it. Then a few months later Bret Shipp from WFAA shows up at my home and starts asking questions about the confrontation and about Cindy Burleson.

Once I heard the name Cindy Burleson, it became clear why the reporter was there.

Cindy Burleson and Lisa Taylor have been harassing me and my family for almost two years now. She goes by eBay user IDs : lavinder17@hotmail.com, fireyredhead1960, cindysilver2004, curtain_climbers, officerfredfw

They have done everything they can think of to ruin my business, my reputation, and basically my life. They have accused me of anything they could think of, and have reported me to anyone they could come up with in an attempt to reek some sort of revenge against me and have me kicked off of eBay.

I was first contacted by Cindy Burleson in Feb. 2004. She had won one of my auctions for $1.50. She told me she was going to my house and pick up the item. I told her I do not let anyone from the internet come to my house. She insisted that she knew where I lived, and she was going to come over. She got really mad that I refused to allow her in my home. She began accusing me of bidding on my own auctions. The auction had started for $1, so she was accusing me of committing fraud to gain 50 cents ! She reported this to eBay, and emailed my customers with this ridiculous claim.

She then started calling me, and emailing obsessively, then she got her daughter, her boyfriend, and her friends to email me. I have received well over 1,000 emails from her and her friends/family. I got over 500 from them in one day alone. I did call her quite a few times to try to get her to stop, I threatened legal action, she just kept emailing and calling. I gave up, and stopped responding to her harassment in February 2004 and changed my phone number to stop her calls. That is when the real horror began. She is on a mission to do everything she can to effect my life, my business, and my family.

She took one of my emails to her and changed it to say that I was coming to kill her. She sent it to eBay so that they would cancel my account. I had a copy of the original email with the time, date, and ID numbers. I was able to prove to eBay that I did not do this, and they eventually reinstated my account. Meanwhile I was suspended for 30 days with no income because of this lie.

After all of these false allegations from Cindy and her daughter I began to suspect they were the ones up to no good on eBay, so I started to research her accounts and I found out Cindy would list items (such as Tiffany jewelry) and Lisa would bid against other bidders on the items to drive the price up! She had accused me of this when her and her daughter were the ones really doing it ! I showed eBay and eBay suspended the accounts. Neither Cindy Burleson or Lisa Taylor have been allowed on eBay since that time.

Cindy and Lisa both knew it was me who reported them and it only fueled their hatred towards me. Needless to say the story did not end there.

She handed out my home address and phone number to everyone she knows. They then started calling and driving by my house (then would call and/or email to say they had driven by) I filed a police report with the Johnson County Sheriff after they came by late one night in May 2004. I thought it would end after that but the worst was yet to come.

The 10news story states I was arrested for "harassment" and shows the mug shot from that ‘most recent’ arrest. The only reason I was arrested for harassment was because on 3-15-2004 Cindy Burleson filed a false police report against me with the Grand Prairie Texas police department. Apparently her story did not hold water, so action was not taken by the police. The following week 3-22-2004, Lisa goes back to Grand Prairie Texas police department and tells them a different story (someone must have told them their first report did not do it and what they would have to say in order for the Grand Prairie police to take action). A warrant was issued for me after the second report. I obtained copies of the 2 conflicting police reports and there is absolutely no mention of any ‘death threat’ in either of the 2 reports. In fact the reports say I had called 5 times, not the 30-40 she is claiming now. The strangest part of the 2 conflicting reports is that they were both taken by the same police officer. This is a matter of public record and can be verified by anyone through the Grand Prairie Police Department.

Now I ask you, if you were the police officer who took the initial report and knew full well it was false, why would you accept a second report with a different story from the same 2 people and allow them to use different names and addresses, but the same phone numbers ? Not to mention the fact that neither Cindy, her daughter, nor I resided in or around Grand Prairie at all.

Bret Shipp of WFAA was advised of all of this, but he made absolutely no mention of these facts I provided him with in the story they did on me. I guess the truth did not make for a ‘juicy’ story in Bret’s eyes.

I had no idea I even had a warrant for this until the night I was pulled over in my hometown of Cleburne a couple days after Christmas. I spent 5 days (including New Years Eve!) in jail before I could come up with the $5,000 bond they put on me ! Once the DA looked into the matter my bond was refunded in full and no charges were filed. I still spent 5 days in jail because of this woman's lies !

She has continued to harass me and my family. She said that she has been ‘terrorized’ but I have not emailed, called or initiated any contact with her since Feb. 2004. She and her daughter have continued this for almost 2 years now. Every so often I get some kind of strange email message from her. She tells me she likes my house, my car, my truck, and my wife. She has sent emails to my wife stating she has had sex with me in an effort to have my wife think I cheated on her. Both her and her daughter send me emails asking if I am having a nice day and that they love me, stuff like hugs and kisses and such. She even ran a criminal background check on me, got all of my personal information, then emailed to tell me she had this information. She emailed me in July 2005 saying she had driven by my house and saw me smoking in the front yard. She told me how ‘white trash’ she thought that was.

Now I ask you, if someone is harassing and ‘terrorizing’ you, why on earth would you be emailing them to antagonize them and drive by their home which is more than an hour away?

Cindy was frustrated that I was not responding to her emails and phone calls and proceeded to involve the Media and tell them the same bogus story she told eBay about me threatening her life. In fact, I found out about this whole ‘Ebay Bully’ story from HER!! She emailed me to show me what she had done.

After the 10news story aired I started receiving many emails from irate eBay users cussing me out left and right. I was lead into numerous chat forums and discussion boards which were discussing this ‘Ebay Bully’ story and even going as far as posting satellite images of my neighborhood and specifically pointing out my house on the image! Then eBay canceled my accounts telling me I had become a "legal liability” to them, and they could not allow me to conduct business on their site. This entire ordeal has become an ongoing nightmare from which I cannot seem to wake up.

I am an honest small business owner, just trying to make a living and take care of my home and family. I have been selling on eBay for 7 years. I have 1000’s of happy customers. It is unfortunate that I have lost my sole source of income due to a couple of persistent people with nothing better to do than to come up with ways to destroy my life. I now have been put out of business, and have no way to support myself or my family.

I have suffered loss of wages, false imprisonment, harassment, defamation of character, and now public humiliation at the hands of Cindy and her clan. I honestly cannot believe something like this could happen over a $1.50 auction. If it had not happened to me I still would not believe it.

The scariest part of this whole ordeal is that I have come to realize that Cindy Burleson is not going to stop. She is obsessed with me, and has made it her life’s mission to harass me and my family. If it happened to me, it could happen to anyone out there.