Craigslist iPhone sale leads to beating

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Two men are accused of luring a man to a parking lot by trying to sell an iPhone on Craigslist, holding him at gun point, then beating and robbing him.

Arthur Anderson,18, was arrested Wednesday and Kent Alexander Jenkins,17, was arrested Thursday afternoon. The attack happened in a parking lot at the 2400 block of Braker Lane in northwest Austin, just after 4 p.m. on Saturday. The victim had agreed to meet them there after responding to an ad on Craigslist , the popular Web site, from someone selling an iPhone.

Police say the victim took the right safety precautions by meeting them in a public place. But the building is closed on Saturdays, so there was no one there to help the victim when he was attacked.

Craigslist users need to be careful, police say - but the very nature of money changing hands between strangers leads to dangers.

Like the victim in this case, Craigslist user James Grabbs did not think much about meeting up with a stranger with hundreds of dollars in hand.

"They’ll tell people they want cash so they don’t get ripped off by people giving them a bad check, so it’s kind of something everybody needs to be careful of,” said Grabbs. “It seems like something that people should be careful of, but the time I bought on Craigslist, I just went over there and bought the guitar."

The victim from the most recent Craigslist robbery  made another mistake by inviting the man he wanted to buy the iPhone from into his car, police said.

Police said that is when Anderson pulled a pistol at him, and they struggled. Then, police said, Kent Jenkins ran up to the car and “the two males then savagely beat the victim."

The man was able to run to Braker Lane for help, and a passerby called 911. However, by then his face was left with "abrasions, swelling and bruising." He had "blood ruptures in both eyes, "a broken nose" and a "bone fracture in his right hand," according to the arrest warrant.

Police said Anderson and Jenkins took the victim's car keys, between $400 and $500 in cash, a MacBook laptop and "even tried to take the "victim's shoes."

It's an incident Detective Sheldon Askew said should make Craigslist buyers and sellers think twice.

"People need to understand and take away from this that open sales are fine - a lot of people do them. They need to make sure they are in a well lit place, a well populated place,” said Askew.