Adult film website owners charged with sex trafficking by force
On October 10, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California reported that the owners and two employees of the popular adult websites GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys were charged in federal court with sex trafficking crimes. Those charges are in connection with a scheme to deceive and coerce young women to appear in sex videos.
Reportedly, owners Michael James Pratt and Matthew Isaac Wolfe along with adult film performer and producer Ruben Andre Garcia and administrative assistant Valorie Moser used deception and false promises to lure the victims, who had responded to ads for modeling jobs that would supposedly pay $5,000. Eventually the women were told the job was really for adult films.
To persuade the women to participate, the defendants convinced them they could remain anonymous and that their videos would not be posted on the Internet. In reality, the entire purpose was to post the videos on the Internet. According to financial records, the websites have generated more than $17 million in revenue.
According to the complaint, the circumstances were not at all what was promised.
Some of the women were pressured into signing documents without reviewing them and then threatened with legal action or outing if they failed to perform. Some of the women were not permitted to leave the shooting locations until the videos were filmed. Family and friends of the victims and the general public eventually saw the videos online.
Some victims were harassed and ridiculed and estranged from their families as a result; and some were sexually assaulted and in at least one case raped. Some were forced to perform certain sex acts they had declined to do, or they would not be paid or allowed to leave.
Garcia was arrested on October 9. Wolfe was taken into custody Tuesday by immigration officials and transferred to federal criminal custody. They were arraigned on October 10. Moser was arraigned on October 11. Pratt is on the run and is considered a fugitive from the law.
On October 9 at approximately 7:00 p.m., FBI agents executed a search warrant at an office located in the Spreckels Theatre Building located at 121 W. Broadway in San Diego. According to the search warrant, the office was used by members of the conspiracy to operate the GirlsDoPorn website.
Any additional victims of the alleged crime are encouraged to call the San Diego FBI at 858-320-1800.
Pratt, 36, Wolfe, 37, and Garcia, 31, were all charged Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud and Coercion. If convicted, the minimum penalty for that crime is 15 years in prison, with a maximum penalty of life in custody and a $250,000 fine.
All four defendants, Pratt, Wolfe, Garcia and Moser, 37, were also charged with Conspiracy to Commit Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud and Coercion. If convicted, the maximum penalty is life in prison and $250,000 fine.
(Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California)
~ Written by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
