Washington D.C., Jun 15, 2021 / 19:00 pm
One of the pornographers in the production company GirlsDoPorn was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Monday for sex trafficking.
Andre Garcia, a producer for the pornography website GirlsDoPorn, was charged with “Sex Trafficing by Force, Fraud and Coercion” in 2019 along with Michael James Pratt and Matthew Isaac Wolfe. The three operated the companies “GirlsDoPorn” and “GirlsDoToys,” and produced pornographic films.
On Monday, Garcia was handed down a 20-year sentence for trafficking by federal district court Judge Janis Lynn Sammartino.
Advocates for sex trafficking survivors applauded the sentencing on Tuesday.
“We commend Judge Sammartino for listening to the GirlsDoPorn survivors who courageously spoke at the sentencing hearing and accordingly sentenced Garcia to twenty years in prison – seven years longer than the prosecutors suggested,” Dani Pinter, senior legal counsel for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, told CNA on Tuesday.
“The entire pornography industry – which is built on abuse, exploitation, and coercion – is hereby put on notice that exploitation will not stand,” Pinter said.
In addition to the trafficking charge for Garcia, Pratt, and Wolfe, the three - together with a woman named Valorie Moser who worked as a bookkeeper for GirlsDoPorn, and a cameraman named Theodore Wilfred Gyi - were all charged with “Conspiracy to Commit Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud and Coercion.” That charge carried a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. Pratt was also charged with production of child pornography and sex trafficking of a minor
The group was accused of placing ads for “modeling jobs” that would pay $5,000. In fact, the jobs were for parts in pornographic films. The complaint alleged that Pratt, Wolfe, Garcia, and Moser told the women they could remain anonymous and that their videos would not be shared online. The charges allege that this was not true, and that the videos were made exclusively for the internet.
The complaint alleges that instead of being given a modeling job, women were “pressured” into signing documents without a chance to read them thoroughly, and were threatened with legal action or “outing” if they did not “perform” in a video. Other alleged victims say they were not allowed to leave the location of a shoot until the filming was complete. They say their families and friends viewed their videos online, which resulted in their harassment and estrangement from their families.
Moser and Gyi both pleaded guilty to conspiracy and are awaiting sentencing. Wolfe is awaiting trial, and Pratt, who is a native of New Zealand, remains a fugitive. The FBI is offering a reward for his capture.
Financial records show that the two websites earned more than $17 million for Pratt and Wolfe. The videos were posted on the website Pornhub and were monetized.
In December 2020, 40 women who were trafficked by GirlsDoPorn sued Pornhub, alleging that the website not only kept their porn videos online but continued promoting them even after it was revealed that they were being abused.
“It’s important to note that Pornhub posted the illicit videos on its ‘verified accounts’ platform, which the company asserts is somehow ‘safer.’ Pornhub’s refusal to pull down the videos despite repeated demands to do so by the women belies the absurd pretense of safety,” said Benjamin Bull, general counsel for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, in December.
“Pornhub is a predator that continued to victimize these women even after they had obtained a multi-million dollar judgement against Girls Do Porn for trafficking them. As Pornhub’s actions show, there has been a practical merger between the illicit sex trafficking business and the online pornography industry. They are now virtually inseparable,” said Bull.
