The CEO of Backpage.com, a free online classified ad site, has been arrested for sex trafficking. Although this case is based in Texas (which is about as far away from Michigan as it’s possible to get while still remaining in the continental U.S.) we wanted to share this with our readers because Backpage is used in every state, including here in Michigan.
According to media sources, state agents raided Backpage’s Dallas headquarters recently, searching for evidence of sex trafficking. Following the raid, officers arrested Carl Ferrer, the company’s Chief Executive Officer. It is alleged that Ferrer was aware of the many underaged girls and women who were forced into sex slavery on the website, via prostitution and escort ads on the page.
Ferrer was charged with pimping a minor, pimping, and conspiracy to commit pimping, which are all felonies under Texas law. In Michigan, ‘pimping’ is referred to as Pandering. He was then held on a $500,000 bond. In a statement released by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, he said that “Making money off the backs of innocent human beings by allowing them to be exploited for modern-day slavery is not acceptable in Texas.”
However, this case hasn’t stayed in Texas. Shortly after his arrest, Ferrer faced an extradition hearing, which he chose not to oppose, and was extradited to a jail in California. According to the arrest warrant in California, Backpage’s internal business records reveal that 99 percent of the company’s revenue was obtained through its ‘adult services‘ between January of 2013 and March of 2015.
Law enforcement in California conducted a three year investigation into Backpage.com, and they say that a lot of the ads featured on Backpage’s site include victims of trafficking, many of them under the age of consent. California’s investigation was primarily instigated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They reported a total of 2,900 instances, in California alone, when suspected child sex trafficking occurred on Backpage’s ads since 2012.
According to Teresa Flores, author of The Slave Across The Street, Backpage and Craigslist personals are both frequently used by traffickers to promote their underaged victims. Flores was forced into slavery by traffickers when she was 15-years-old in Detroit, Michigan and wasn’t able to escape her captors for several years. She is the creator of S.O.A.P. (Save Our Adolescent Prostitutes), and travels the country, sharing her story of survival.
It was Flores’ experience, right here in Michigan, that led Senator Judy Emmons to push for legislation that protected trafficking victims and created harsher punishments for those convicted of human trafficking. The “Teresa Flores Law” was put on the books in Michigan on January 11th, 2014.
Since the new human trafficking laws were passed in Michigan, the penalties for forcing someone into sexual slavery are very harsh. Anyone accused of “pimping” someone else, or forcing someone into prostitution, or forcing someone to work without pay will be charged under Michigan’s new human trafficking laws.
If you have been accused of a sex crime or human trafficking in any form, the experienced attorneys at the Kronzek Firm are here. We have successfully represented hundreds of clients over the years who have been accused of pandering, prostitution, soliciting sex, criminal sexual assault and many other sex crimes. We can help you too.