Joshua Bote

,

SFGATE

June 16, 2021

Updated: June 16, 2021 9:59 a.m.

The videos made under the GirlsDoPorn brand received a billion cumulative views, officials said.

The videos made under the GirlsDoPorn brand received a billion cumulative views, officials said.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Ruben Garcia would create posts on Craigslist, targeting women between the ages of 18 to 20 who aspired to work in the modeling industry.

The posts were made under the auspices of a fake, but legitimate-seeming clothed modeling agency with names like Bubblegum Casting — complete with a website that made it appear that its applicants would be able to break into the fashion industry through their services.

But once the women applied, Garcia and his colleague Michael Pratt informed them that they were in fact, looking for models to do porn.

Pratt, a New Zealand man currently on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, founded the pornography sites GirlsDoPorn (GDP) and GirlsDoToys (GDT) — notorious sites that marketed themselves as “amateur” women making pornographic videos.

Garcia, 31, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in San Diego court after pleading guilty last December to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, the Department of Justice said in a statement Monday.

The charge is the first after 22 anonymous women came forward and sued GirlsDoPorn for “fradulent bait-and-switch tactics” in the fall of 2019, reported Courthouse News, and the case later evolved into a case of human trafficking charges leveled against Garcia, Pratt and videographers and other employees.

The details surrounding the recruitment, recording and distribution of these videos, viewed a cumulative billion times, were described by officials as “utterly callous” and driven by greed. The men and their affiliates made millions out of this grift, officials said.

If the young women were reluctant to participate in the videos, according to the DOJ, Garcia, an actor for the company, would instruct women who had previously worked with the company to assure them that the videos wouldn’t be shared online — and that their loved ones would not be privy to the videos.

The decision to recruit other women for this was intentional, the DOJ said, since both Garcia and Pratt believed that “the victims were more likely to believe other young women” over them.

And of course, their anonymity was not guaranteed. Garcia, the DOJ reported, “took active steps” to conceal the fact that he worked for these sites, including in contracts the women signed before the videos were recorded. Victims were also not given a copy of the contract they signed.

Once the victims agreed to participating, the process to shoot the videos was quick. A flight would be booked for them in San Diego within days in order to “limit the chances that the victim would change her mind.” Once at the hotel or rental unit, Garcia again falsely emphasized that the videos would not be shared online.

Garcia and others involved, the agency reports, also went against standard practice in adult film by coercing victims to complete videos once recording began even if they were scared, in pain or bleeding — threatening lawsuits, flight cancellations and leaking the videos if they were not completed. The team behind GDP also reportedly blocked the doors with recording equipment. As a result, the “victims felt powerless and unable to leave.”

The victims were paid less than promised once the recording was done. They were promised between $3,000 to $5,000, but Garcia cited moles or tattoos or another “imperfection.” And when videos were shared on their site or on PornHub or other hub sites with millions of viewers daily, calls from the women were blocked or ignored.

“This defendant lured one victim after another with fake modeling ads, false promises and deceptive front companies, ultimately devolving to threats to coerce these women into making sex videos,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “Even when victims told Garcia how the scheme had devastated their lives, he showed no regard for their well-being. The crime was utterly callous in nature and there is no excuse or justification for his conduct, which was driven purely by greed."

At a sentencing hearing Monday, it was revealed that one of the victims targeted by Garcia was underaged and “conned” into sending nude photos when she was 17.

Garcia was repentant in court, calling his actions “deceitful” and the porn industry “an evil business,” reported Courthouse News.

But that did not sway U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino.

“I’ve been doing this a very long time and I can tell you I haven’t had a case like this,” Sammartino told the victims during the hearing, reported Courthouse News. “You were treated in the poorest of ways, you were disregarded, treated as disposable commodities in someone’s quest for money.”

The site shuttered in 2020. Pratt is still at large; the FBI offered $10,000 for any relevant information regarding his whereabouts.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42642759)

I'm sure there was another motivation too

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42642788)

truly horrible dudes that deserve to be locked away from life. have to admit, gdp was pretty 180 back in the day. i always wondered how they found the secret sauce to getting some many stunning first timers that didn't appear anywhere else.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42642793)

UGH! What kind of websites would have such material?

I hope you post the url on here so that others can know to stay away and not click it.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42648185)

enough about biglaw

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42643458)

regardless, the facts here are egregious. and this is coming from someone that lol'd and jerked off throughout "hot girls wanted".

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42644343)

Lmao

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42644457)

the actual damage done to these girls probably is also the case for literally every chick who has ever done porn and a majority have gone through far worse actual life ruining and soul destroying shit at the hands of the scum who run the industry. you bring up hot girls wanted where these destitute chicks would literally end up homeless if they didn't do whatever porn they were told to do and say blocking the door with a camera is somehow worse.

tldr. this feels like a Weinstein type situation where an easy target is being fed to authorities to keep them off the backs of the rest who do far worse.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42648200)

the allegations were made years later, so no physical evidence. plus he fucked them "consensually" for the tapes, so any evidence found could have been attributed to that.

by your logic if he actually rape raped then they would have brought charges. well, if they weren't actually illegally coercing women to have sex why did this guy plead guilty? he admitted it, what more do you want?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42644449)

You can't just "take a plea just to get it over with". Federal judges do a very thorough colloqui with you to determine that you are pleading guilty BECAUSE YOU COMMITTED THE OFFENSE, not just because you "got bad advice".

Sentencings take a long fucking time and involve a lot of different entities. They do that so the DefBro can't come back a year later and say, "Uh..uh...I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS PLEADING TO! I JUST SAID IT SO I COULD GO HOME!"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42648191)

2) he's forthcoming about what the shoot entails

3) he's probably jewish

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42647313)

Anyways, the fact these whores haven't gotten him in trouble is testament to (3 on your list.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42648073)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42644347)

or how many girls were going to shoot or were in the process of shooting and stopped/left.

the charges just don't feel right for the situation.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42644479)

did this go to trial or just a plea?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42646992)

she is still fucking consenting to porn, now feminazis are basically saying that if u distribute a porno to the wrong audience that is rape?

lol at this gay earth and lol at the fucking judge giving him twice what even the fed prosecuters were recommending

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42644496)

blocking doors wld be bad but if they had a contract and they are paying for fligths then cancelling flights and saying they have to pay for themselves is legal

likewise breah of contract is legal

im not saying this is moral but ljl at this being 20 years in fed prison

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42644507)

BTW, what streaming site still has their content?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42644665)

That said everyone involved in producing this should be hung. Women who participated should be stoned to death.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42648211)

It's that the Owners lied to the women to get them to perform. That's really where the legal exposure comes into play.

Threatening to cancel someone's flight unless they take dick and then lying about whether the video will be sold on the internet is clearly wrong.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42648402)

Gov't doesn't feel sympathy for a balding lawyer who regrets taking that cum-shot in the eye in exchange for more PTO.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42648787)

2) thepiratebay and other torrent places

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4858945&forum_id=2#42648821)