{"id":4795,"date":"2016-11-09T16:13:45","date_gmt":"2016-11-10T00:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/?p=4795"},"modified":"2025-11-19T16:15:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T00:15:22","slug":"state-ag-bust-backpage-com-for-human-trafficking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/2016\/11\/09\/state-ag-bust-backpage-com-for-human-trafficking\/","title":{"rendered":"State AG Bust Backpage.com for Human Trafficking"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SACRAMENTO<\/strong>\u00a0— Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced the arrest of Carl Ferrer, the Chief Executive Officer of online advertising website Backpage.com, on felony charges of pimping a minor, pimping, and conspiracy to commit pimping. \u00a0Michael Lacey and James Larkin, controlling shareholders of Backpage, have also been criminally charged with conspiracy to commit pimping, a felony. Backpage hosts ads for \u201cescort services\u201d, essentially operating as an online brothel and generating millions of dollars off the illegal sex trade.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cRaking in millions of dollars from the trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable victims is outrageous, despicable and illegal,\u201d said Attorney General Harris.\u00a0 \u201cBackpage and its executives purposefully and unlawfully designed Backpage to be the world\u2019s top online brothel. Thank you to the California Department of Justice Special Agents, investigators, attorneys, and our partners in law enforcement who have worked tirelessly to bring the operators of this online brothel to justice and protect thousands of victims of trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Backpage hosts ads for sales of a range of items and services, the arrest warrant alleges that the vast majority of Backpage\u2019s revenue is generated through prostitution-related ads in its \u201cadult services\u201d section.\u00a0 Backpage collects fees from users who post \u201cescort\u201d ads, offering sex for money using coded language and nearly nude photos. The California Department of Justice\u2019s investigation found that many of the ads for prostitution services involved victims of sex trafficking, including children under the age of 18.<\/p>\n

Since 2010, Backpage has been expanding operations, creating sites in hundreds of cities throughout the world, including over 30 cities in California.\u00a0 Backpage\u2019s internal revenue reports show that from January 2013 to March 2015, 99% of Backpage\u2019s worldwide income was directly attributable to the \u201cadult\u201d section. During this 29-month period, Backpage\u2019s self-reporting demonstrates that gross monthly income from California rose to $2.5 million per month, with over $51 million in revenue derived from California in that period.<\/p>\n

In addition to making millions of dollars off the sale of \u201cadult\u201d ads on Backpage, the arrest warrant alleges that Ferrer devised a way to promote Backpage by creating other prostitution-related sites that essentially serve as an escort directory comprised entirely of Backpage users.\u00a0 Ferrer took data from Backpage users and created content for Backpage-affiliated sites like EvilEmpire.com and BigCity.com. The investigation found that Evilempire.com featured photos and contact information from Backpage and offered no apparent way for users to submit content directly.\u00a0 These schemes enabled Ferrer and his co-conspirators to expand Backpage\u2019s share of the online sex advertising market.<\/p>\n

The California Department of Justice conducted a three-year investigation, including undercover operations posting \u201cescort\u201d ads and arranging meetings with people who had advertised in the \u201cescort\u201d section, confirming that commercial sex was the only purpose for both buyers and sellers. The investigation was sparked by reports from media, law enforcement agencies, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). In the last five years, NCMEC has reported an over 800% increase in reports of suspected child sex trafficking, much of it the result of online child sex trafficking. Since 2012, the NCMEC has reported 2,900 instances to California law enforcement where suspected child sex trafficking occurred via Backpage.<\/p>\n

In addition to NCMEC, other agencies assisting in the investigation include the Texas Attorney General\u2019s office, the Los Angeles District Attorney\u2019s Office, the Contra Costa District Attorney\u2019s Office, the Los Angeles Sheriff\u2019s Human Trafficking Taskforce, the Long Beach Police Department, the Mesa Police Department, the Rocklin Police Department, the Napa Police Department, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Department of Justice. The CEO and founder of Runaway Girl, Carissa Phelps, also collaborated with the California Department of Justice to reach out to and support victims.<\/p>\n

Anyone who was a victim of trafficking via Backpage is encouraged to file a report with the California Department of Justice by emailing\u00a0backpage@doj.ca.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Harris has made fighting\u00a0human trafficking a priority for the California Department of Justice<\/a>, and has advocated for increased collaboration among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies during the investigation and prosecution of human trafficking crimes.<\/p>\n

The Office of the Attorney General is actively investigating and prosecuting human trafficking cases across California.\u00a0 Most recently, the office secured a felony conviction against Andrew Jordan, 37, of Long Beach, on charges of human trafficking, pimping, pandering, domestic violence, and assault. Jordan forced women to commit commercial sex acts and kept the proceeds, severely punishing the victims if they violated his strict rules.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Office of the Attorney General released a\u00a0resource guide\u00a0<\/a>to help companies comply with the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act. The law requires large retailers and manufacturers doing business in California to disclose on their websites their \u201cefforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from [their] direct supply chain for tangible goods offered for sale.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2012, Attorney General Harris created a Human Trafficking Work Group and released a report,\u00a0The State of Human Trafficking in California<\/a>, which discussed the growth of human trafficking crimes statewide and the challenges with combatting them effectively.<\/p>\n

Please note that an arrest warrant contains only allegations against a person and, as with all defendants, Carl Ferrer, Michael Lacey, and James Larkin must be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.<\/p>\n

Copies of the arrest warrant and complaint are attached to the online version of this news release at\u00a0www.oag.ca.gov\/news<\/a>.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Related story:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Sex Trafficking through advertisements for escort services in South …<\/a><\/p>\n

molosyndicate.com\/3\/1-2091 —\u00a0Jan 26, 2016 –\u00a0The South Lake El Dorado Narcotics Enforcement Team (SLEDNET) … for escort services placed on websites such as \u201cBackpage<\/em>.com.\u201d … the assistance of the\u00a0El Dorado County <\/em>Sheriff’s Office and South Lake … SLEDNET has observed an increase in\u00a0prostitution<\/em>, both locally and in the surrounding areas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SACRAMENTO\u00a0— Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced the arrest of Carl Ferrer, the Chief Executive Officer of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","darknews-slider-full":"","darknews-featured":"","darknews-medium":"","darknews-medium-square":""},"author_info":{"display_name":"News MoLo","author_link":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/author\/admin\/"},"category_info":"Crime<\/a>","tag_info":"Crime","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4795"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4796,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4795\/revisions\/4796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}