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US police: Husband arranged wife's rape online

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-04 09:19

KANNAPOLIS, North Carolina - A man used the online advertising service Craigslist to enlist another man to rape his wife in the couple's home, police said Wednesday.

The 25-year-old Kannapolis man faces first-degree rape and other charges. The Associated Press is not naming him to avoid identifying his wife, a victim of sexual assault.

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His wife called police early Sunday morning and said a man with a knife raped her in the bedroom of their home in Kannapolis, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Charlotte, authorities said. Her husband was in the room, police said. Their two young children were also home, but were unaware of what was happening, authorities said.

The husband sought someone in the ads to come to his home and have sex with his wife using "scare tactics," police said. It was without her knowledge or consent, police said.

Authorities are still investigating the identity of the man who attacked the woman and it wasn't known if the husband paid him to do it. The woman was not seriously injured, but was treated at a hospital and released.

Investigators turned their suspicions to the husband after his statement didn't add up and because there were no signs the attacker broke into the home. The husband was jailed Wednesday on $200,000 bond.

"We share the public's horror that such a crime was committed, and our heart goes out to the victim," said Craigslist spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best.

The online classified site had been criticized for its "erotic services" section, which Craigslist agreed to do away with last month after a Boston medical student, deemed "the Craigslist killer," was charged with killing a woman he met on the site.

A Kansas City, Missouri, man was sentenced last month to 29 years in prison for raping a woman who advertised in the section.