Simple Craigslist query started it all

She wasn’t looking to get famous. She wasn’t looking for money.

She wasn’t even looking for a date.

Yesha Callahan, 34, the woman former Rep. Chris Lee met on Craigslist and e-mailed a shirtless photo of himself, told The Buffalo News that she was scrolling through the website’s personals one day last month and “saw pretty much not-attractive-looking people.” It prompted her to post the question: “Will someone prove to me not all Craigslist men look like toads?”

She got about 30 responses, some from men who sent them their photos asking her for her opinion.

Among them was the congressman from Amherst who, after a string of flirty e-mails, sent her the now-infamous photo of himself without a shirt and flexing his biceps in a bathroom mirror.

But Callahan didn’t know who he was, just yet.

Callahan, a single mother who works for the University of Maryland and maintains the blog flyblackchick.com, had tried to remain anonymous since Wednesday, when the online gossip website Gawker published Lee’s embarrassing photo and the e-mail exchanges between Callahan and Lee.

But after the Washington Post tracked her down and published her name, she agreed to talk to The Buffalo News about the bizarre events that led to Lee’s resignation.

Callahan said she went to Gawker with the e-mails because she “just figured he’s probably out there doing this to other women.”

She continued: “I figured some women aren’t smart enough to investigate.” But that’s exactly what Callahan did.

It wasn’t that she was suspicious when Lee first contacted her — a day before he sent the shirtless photo.

When he first responded, he sent a photo of himself in a polo shirt and khakis.

Callahan said she thought it was a fake and told him so: “Are you sure that’s not a photo from a J.C. Penney ad?” she had quipped.

He then sent the infamous photo.

She showed the shirtless photo to some friends and then began doing a little bit of Internet digging, something she often does.

“I treat all men equally,” she said. “I don’t care who you are. I wanted to research what’s out there on you.” She took the e-mail address, which used Lee’s full name, and searched it on Facebook. It immediately led to a photo of Lee with his wife and young
son. His employer was listed as the U.S. Congress.

Callahan didn’t think he was an actual congressman — just yet.

“I have plenty of friends who work on the Hill,” she said. “I had no clue. You can say, U.S. Congress and be a mail clerk.” Then she Googled his name and saw numerous citations about a Christopher Lee who was a congressman.

“I was pretty amazed,” Callahan recalled.

Not only was he a congressman, but he was married and older than he had said. He told Callahan he was divorced and 39. He was actually 46.

She told a friend and they began investigating whether if it could be a prank of some sort. Then they came across Lee’s official congressional website.

“That’s when we knew it’s not fake,” she said.

After sending his shirtless photo, Lee asked Callahan to send a sexy photo of herself.

She had already sent a head shot of herself.

“That’s when I cut off communication,” she said. “That’s when you can kind of tell someone is trying to be creepy.” After consulting with more friends, one suggested Callahan contact Gawker. The website began investigating and on Wednesday, the story went public.

Callahan said she wasn’t particularly nervous that day.

“I was supposed to be anonymous,” she said. “I was pretty fine with it.” She was out on a date with a man from Buffalo when she learned Lee had resigned.

Her date, who knew who Lee was, was highly amused, she said.

Callahan said her immediate thought was that there was way more to his resignation than just their e-mail exchange.

“We never met. We never spoke over the phone. It was just a handful of e-mails,” she said. “I thought it was weird.” In the days since Lee’s resignation, comments posted on news websites have accused Callahan of being everything from an attention seeker to a prostitute.

Callahan said she is absolutely not a prostitute just because she uses Craigslist. She has often advertised on the free site to find design jobs.

And had she wanted to become famous, Callahan told The News, she could easily have posted her story on her own blog, flyblackchick.com, or sent out a “tweet” to her thousands of followers.

“I get enough attention,” she said. “I’ve had a website since 2006. I’ve been a writer for a while. I have a following on Twitter and Facebook. A lot of people didn’t know 1/8the Craigslist woman
3/8 was me. All my friends down here had no clue. If I wanted attention — I could have written about it myself if I wanted.”

She came forward after being outed by the Washington Post late Thursday night.

That very night, reporters were knocking on her door. And, until 11 p.m. Friday, she saw several reporters parked in the parking lot of her condominium.

On Friday night, she wrote about her experience on her blog: “Some even say I enticed former Congressman Chris Lee into sending me the shirtless photo. Excuse me for not realizing 1/8that 3/8 asking, ’Do you have
something that doesn’t look like a J.C. Penney ad?’ is considered enticing nowadays.

Maybe I’ll use it more often. Maybe it’ll keep me off of Craigslist. Maybe it’ll yield me a financially and emotionally stable man. I mean anything is possible, right?” By the beginning of the weekend, she returned to her normal life.

“I’ve gone on with my regular routine,” she said.

She also has not heard from Lee or anyone associated with him in the wake of what happened.

Callahan continues to wonder how Lee could have been so reckless.

“Maybe he wanted to get caught,” she said. “I don’t know.”