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Porn site owner pleads guilty to sex trafficking in San Diego
June 6 (UPI) -- Michael Pratt, the mastermind behind the GirlsDoPorn website and an international fugitive for three years, pleaded guilty to sex trafficking in federal court in San Diego.
Pratt pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to sex trafficking from 2012 to 2019 and sex trafficking a victim in 2012 of the superseding indictment, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.
Sentencing for Pratt, 42, is scheduled for Sept. 8 before U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino.
He liquidated his assets and fled from the United States in 2019. He was named to the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted list until his arrest in Spain on Dec. 22, 2022, and was extradited to San Diego in March 2024.
Pratt was charged in October 2019 in the Southern District of California in connection with deceiving and coercing hundreds of young women from the United States and Canada to appear in pornographic videos.
Pratt and his co-defendants used force, fraud and coercion on the women -- mostly in their late teens -- to appear in GirlsDoPorn videos, the Department of Justice said.
During court hearings, victims detailed how they had lost jobs, were evicted, dropped out of school or was disowned by friends and family. Some attempted suicide.
According to prosecutors, Pratt sometimes transported the women to and from the site of the video shoot at hotels or short-term rental units in the San Diego area.
The prospective models were told the video would never be posted online or released in the United States.
In 2012, Pratt recruited co-defendant Matthew Wolfe, now 43, to work for him. They also developed GirlsDoToys out of the same office in San Diego.
With million of views, they posted video content on free porn sites such.
The websites charged visitors a subscription fee to access content, and generated $17 million in revenue for them, according to prosecutors.
In 2013, Pratt recruited another co-defendant, Ruben Andre Garcia, a male model who engaged in sex acts on video with the women. Garcia is now 36.
Prosecutors said Pratt and other members of the conspiracy ensured that the victims did not find out they owned and operated GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys.
If the women said they wanted to stop making the video, the co-conspirators threatened to sue the women, cancel flights home and post the videos online, prosecutors said.
In May 2012, Pratt used the alias "Matt" to recruit Victim 1 for modeling and posted an ad on Craigslist as Bubblegum Casting.
The victim, who was 18, was told the job was actually to shoot an "adult video" but was falsely told it would only be seen in Australia by private clients and would not be posted on the internet.
The victim was persuaded to fly from a state outside of California to San Diego for the video shoot at a hotel. Pratt told the FBI he gave the victim $2,000.
Garcia was sentenced to 20 years in prison on June 14, 2021; Theodore Gyi, 47, who served as a photographer, four years on Nov. 9, 2022; Wolfe 14 years on March 20, 2024. Valorie Moser, 42, the office manager, is set for sentencing on Sept. 12.
"I can remember being so worried to tell him [Garcia] that I was just 17," a woman told the court during a hearing for Garcia. "But he was not mad or concerned. Instead, he was excited and was eager to start."
Porn site owner pleads guilty to sex trafficking in San Diego
June 6 (UPI) -- Michael Pratt, the mastermind behind the GirlsDoPorn website and an international fugitive for three years, pleaded guilty to sex trafficking in federal court in San Diego.
Pratt pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to sex trafficking from 2012 to 2019 and sex trafficking a victim in 2012 of the superseding indictment, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.
Sentencing for Pratt, 42, is scheduled for Sept. 8 before U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino.
He liquidated his assets and fled from the United States in 2019. He was named to the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted list until his arrest in Spain on Dec. 22, 2022, and was extradited to San Diego in March 2024.
Pratt was charged in October 2019 in the Southern District of California in connection with deceiving and coercing hundreds of young women from the United States and Canada to appear in pornographic videos.
Pratt and his co-defendants used force, fraud and coercion on the women -- mostly in their late teens -- to appear in GirlsDoPorn videos, the Department of Justice said.
During court hearings, victims detailed how they had lost jobs, were evicted, dropped out of school or was disowned by friends and family. Some attempted suicide.
According to prosecutors, Pratt sometimes transported the women to and from the site of the video shoot at hotels or short-term rental units in the San Diego area.
The prospective models were told the video would never be posted online or released in the United States.
In 2012, Pratt recruited co-defendant Matthew Wolfe, now 43, to work for him. They also developed GirlsDoToys out of the same office in San Diego.
With million of views, they posted video content on free porn sites such.
The websites charged visitors a subscription fee to access content, and generated $17 million in revenue for them, according to prosecutors.
In 2013, Pratt recruited another co-defendant, Ruben Andre Garcia, a male model who engaged in sex acts on video with the women. Garcia is now 36.
Prosecutors said Pratt and other members of the conspiracy ensured that the victims did not find out they owned and operated GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys.
If the women said they wanted to stop making the video, the co-conspirators threatened to sue the women, cancel flights home and post the videos online, prosecutors said.
In May 2012, Pratt used the alias "Matt" to recruit Victim 1 for modeling and posted an ad on Craigslist as Bubblegum Casting.
The victim, who was 18, was told the job was actually to shoot an "adult video" but was falsely told it would only be seen in Australia by private clients and would not be posted on the internet.
The victim was persuaded to fly from a state outside of California to San Diego for the video shoot at a hotel. Pratt told the FBI he gave the victim $2,000.
Garcia was sentenced to 20 years in prison on June 14, 2021; Theodore Gyi, 47, who served as a photographer, four years on Nov. 9, 2022; Wolfe 14 years on March 20, 2024. Valorie Moser, 42, the office manager, is set for sentencing on Sept. 12.
"I can remember being so worried to tell him [Garcia] that I was just 17," a woman told the court during a hearing for Garcia. "But he was not mad or concerned. Instead, he was excited and was eager to start."
