Is there a piece missing to the Craigslist story?

Is the 'suspect' a random man who tried to steal the phone from her at the Menards? Or is the 'suspect' the actual buyer from Craigslist of whom she arranged the deal with?
If so, did he indeed steal the phone from her or was she filing a false report to receive insurance money? If she's filing a false report, and it landed itself on The Patch's "Crime-n-Shame" blog, why is the man's race on there?

Or maybe I'm just offended that the sentence is written as, "The black man is described...."

Patch editors- Please be aware of how profiles are written in your articles. As "the black man" could have been stated in a more politically correct (as social acceptable) way such as, "The suspect described as a heavy-set African American male." not, "The black man is described as heavy-set."

good point Ernie...never thought of that--blacks originate from many different countries..as do whites

I believe the term used in police reports to describe a white suspect is "Caucasian"; if it is a "black" suspect, they say, "African American"--although I have seen both 'black male; and 'African American male'.

As person who is both black and white and who has traveled to both Europe and Africa I understand what you're saying Ernie. The problem isn't just the phrasing of his race, but the poorly written transition into stating who the suspect is followed the vague description of, "heavy set" which means nothing to the public.

Look at other reports the media uses to describe the suspect, it has specifics including height and weight range, piercings, tattoos or other significant markings, etc.

"The black man" is offensive; and "...described as heavy set" is vague.

I understand this article is in the Crime-n-Shame section of The Patch, so it's poking fun at the none-sense of this woman's report, but frankly, the description is vague and tasteless.

Thumbs up to the author of this article who addressed my various concerns in many ways, one of which by clarifying that "Black" is used in AP style of writing, which is why he used it here.

Also, I was incorrect, this was not posted on the Crime-n-Shame Facebook page, I mistook the link below it as inferring that you can also find this article on that page.

Just wanted to readers to know about the goodwill gesture-- Thank you, Nick.

Police reports indicate race as Black, White, Hispanic, or other.

Christina—Thanks for emailing me. I'm glad we could figure this out. And I'm always happy to address reader concerns, whether in comments or email. You can reach me at nicks@patch.com.

Seriously? A blog on the definition of "black" and how it's used? All if you have too much time on your hands. smh!

Correction..."all of you have too much time on your hands"...