Score One for the Good Guys: Backpage Sex Ring Sentenced To 81 Years in Prison

Last week we reported to you some heartening news out of the Washington, D.C., area regarding the successful prosecution of the last two pimps in what had been one of the lingering sex trafficking rings of the infamous Backpage era.

Friday, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced on its blog that, collectively, the six defendants in this Backpage scheme were sentenced on Tuesday in the Eastern District of Virginia to a combined 81 years in prison for their respective roles in the sex trafficking of both minor and adult victims across Northern Virginia and Maryland.

Included in its description of the case, ICE officials published a chilling, previously undisclosed fact —specifically that these Backpage pimps engaged in sexual intercourse with minors as a form of grooming.

In short, ‘grooming’ is the process by which sex traffickers target emotionally and/or economically vulnerable women, girls and boys and then use a variety of manipulative psychological tricks aimed at transitioning them to a dependent role.

As many have pointed out before, the patterns of grooming used by these low-level pimps mirrors in many ways the same process used by unscrupulous operators like Tony Ortega who attempted to create similar ‘dependence’ by pandering to those who desperately wanted to believe the prostitution market Backpage exploited was somehow economically empowering to women.

As this most recent case demonstrated this couldn’t be further from the truth.

In fact, trial records show that the defendants permitted the minor to keep roughly 50 percent of the commercial sex proceeds while the defendants collected the remaining 50 percent.

James A. Dawson, special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal Division had this to say in the wake of this announcement:

“ _These sentencings underscore the FBI_’ s commitment to holding accountable those who prey upon innocent victims for their own greed… In full collaboration with our task force partners throughout the area, the FBI will continue to work tirelessly to stop criminals such as these, and prevent them from abusing children and vulnerable individuals while profiting from illicit acts. The FBI will remain focused on recovering victims and arresting the sex traffickers who exploit them, and we will not stop working to remove these offenders from the streets of our communities.”

The Feds have made themselves abundantly clear on one point, time and time again — they will not stop working to put away those who prey upon innocent victims or exploit vulnerable individuals while profiting from illicit acts.

We hope you’re paying attention, Tony Ortega because the people they are talking about putting away look and act an awful lot like the same folks who were signing your paychecks.