Today I had to go to the police station. As previously stated in an earlier post..I am absolutely terrified of police, let alone going to a police station. I’ve had to go to the police 4 times in my life, three of them to the actual station. I got punched in the face on the street for no reason by an angry woman, I had my house robbed and identity stolen by some crazy girl who went to my university, and once when I was vastly inebriated when some guy stole my wallet. Luckily for me, in most of the instances I didn’t lose too much and it happened to be quite a funny story in hindsight. For example, the guy who knowingly robbed me of my wallet, was clueless to the fact I actually had no money in my bank account until he tried buying stuff at Duane Reade and my card was declined. Bummer for him. Score for me.
However, in this particular situation going to the police station today will not be a funny story to tell the kids. In fact it’s gross and indecent and the guy whose identity I decided to keep secret I will no longer.
Harry Jay Katz, who apparently is some old dude who owned the 76′s and had flings and aquaintences with hollywood starlets, (look him up) reposted my ad on craigslist this morning with my photograph and information on it. This is what he said and I quote:
“Beware ladies and gentlemen. This woman is a fraud. Not dependable. Manipulative. Dishonest. And will screw you over. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. What a loser! She sets up a meeting at a public place and never shows up. She’s the BS artist on the right.”
Luckily for me, a reader emailed me to let me know what was going on. Now, I’ll explain how I ended up in the police station filing a report. Long story short. Harry Jay Katz emailed me as part of my ad, saying he would like to hug me. Then he asked what I did for a living. I told him I was previously a film editor and I was looking for work. He said he might have a job for me and wanted to meet out of business. Fair enough. Sounds reasonable. However, he insisted I meet at his house, insisted that he call me, and then was very pushy with the fact that I come alone.
I maybe cute, but I’m not stupid. I then asked again that I would need to meet him in public. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he’s just old or maybe he’s just that famous in an old school way that he didn’t think twice about me meeting him in his home environs. When I insisted we meet publicly he became irritable and then relented. We had originally set the date for saturday as it was a thursday. He sent me an email to meet him at this Mexican joint near him on Kelly Drive at 4pm. I called a friend of mine..a big tall dude to come with me on the saturday which was the originally scheduled day. Then I got an email from Harry rudely saying that I better be on my way. I then proceeded to get 5-7 phone calls in the course of 2 hrs leaving me rude messages about how “disgusting” and “unprofessional” I was. I hope you are confused, because I was. I had no idea that he wanted to meet that very day, and had already expressed that I could not meet that day due to the fact I was finishing my project for university. Then he left me more rude emails saying I didn’t even offer an apology. I finally emailed him back stating that I was not a liar, that it was unclear what day he meant, and I felt I was clear I could not meet under present conditions. I expressed to him that I did not wish to meet him at this time. He then sent me 22 emails which I did not respond to. He then called the house again and now today he posted a photograph with libelous statements.
Part of me wishes I had not posted anything on craigslist. Most of me wants to believe in the sanctity and beauty that people are and what they express. But I’m also not an idiot. After I read those comments, it wasn’t the comments that actually hurt. It was the fact that he took something private like my picture and posted it. It was really unfair and a very sleazy thing to do. And how did he get the photograph? He was pushy about it. I should have known better. But I said if he showed me photos of himself I’d give him a photo to see me. Fair enough. Then he wanted more, which I declined.
I guess I could have been safer about it. And I’m sure some of you will indeed think I’m an idiot. But I got so jacked up on the possibility of work that I let my judgement slip. And as well today some company which saw my resume online called me in for a job interview, which I came to find out that its a scam. I guess I’m just not used to living in America. I’m just hoping its not all one big scam or lie or whatever. I’m going to be classy about Harry Jay Katz. I won’t post the emails, but I will say that I swallowed my fear today and went down to the police station, filed a complaint, and if he ever emails or calls again I keep going back to the police station until he gets what he has earned by harassing me.
Finally, through a bit of research here’s what I dug up about our old friend Harry.
A girl mysteriously died by drowning in his hot tub.
http://citypaper.net/articles/083195/article018.shtml
Harry Jay Katz apparently is no stranger to Craigslist as he tries to scam young women into bed
http://www.philebrity.com/2009/06/09/dept-of-sad-is-harry-jay-katz-trolling-craigslist-for-customized-first-person-true-life-porn/
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[...] out, slanders were slandered and libels were libeled and before you know it, according to her blog, she went to the police station because she just didn’t know what else to do! Oh, dear. That’s something, an I guess it would put a young lady’s mind on something [...]
Oh my god sweetheart, I just had the same experience w/this asshole just this week. Luckily I didn’t give him my real name or email address (you know, I had alarms going off from the first second, but I too wanted to give this guy the benefit of the doubt), or I would be at the police station myself terrified. I got the same bs w/him then when I was running late to meet him, I texted that i was stuck in traffic. My phone started ringing non-stop, and by the time I pulled over I had 7 insane sounding voice mails from him. That was it – I decided not to meet him, and I proceeded home (and no, I didn’t call to let him know b/c I didn’t think he deserved the decency after the messages I received) – only to fine 8 email messages of the same nature.
This guy really does trolls CL looking for naive women who will buy into his “I’ll give you the world” line of bs. I too was meeting him for “business” which stemmed from a posting I wrote, and as I know now, we’re both lucky not to have wasted our time on this guy. From what I’ve since learned, in addition to the sexual harassment he’s known for, he’s also known for not paying the people he hires. And that “Philadelphia Film & Video Commission” of his isn’t even the real film organization that attracts and assists w/productions in the area (the Greater Philadelphia Film Office at http://www.film.org).
This guy is a fake, a fraud, a has-been, and a complete narcissist. In addition to the hot tub death you discovered, he’s also been connected to a woman’s suicide and has had more sexual harassment and other laws filed against him than most large corporations do. I would love if you contact me to discuss a bit because I think it’s time we start getting the word out so this jerk can’t keep using CL to lure in unsuspecting ladies.