Eric Omuro, Facilitating Prostitution, California 2015

California Man Guilty of Facilitating Prostitution Website

A California man has pleaded guilty to operating a website that facilitated prostitution, marking the first federal conviction of a website operator for this crime.

Eric Omuro, also known as ‘Red,’ 53, of Mountain View, California, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick of the Northern District of California to using a facility of interstate commerce with the intent to facilitate prostitution. His co-defendant, Annemarie Lanoce, 40, of Rocklin, California, pleaded guilty on Nov. 20, 2014, for assisting Omuro with the operation of the myRedBook.com website.

Omuro admitted that from April 2010 until June 25, 2014, he owned, managed, and operated a website known as myRedBook.com, which was previously known as sfredbook.com. The website hosted advertisements posted by prostitutes containing explicit photos, graphic descriptions of sexual services offered, and rates for the sexual services.

The advertisements were searchable by geographic location, including cities throughout California, other U.S. states, and Canada. Omuro admitted that members of his website and prostitutes typically used acronyms for sex acts, which were defined in graphic detail in the website’s ‘Terms and Acronyms’ section.

Omuro’s sentencing hearing is set for March 26, 2015. As part of the plea agreement, Omuro agreed to the forfeiture of the domain names sfRedBook.com and myRedBook.com and more than $1.28 million in cash and property as proceeds and other property involved in his unlawful activity.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office, the IRS-CI, and the Oakland Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.

Omuro was arrested on June 25, 2014, on a warrant issued following his indictment. With this conviction, the government has taken another step in holding accountable those who facilitate prostitution and other serious crimes.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/california-operator-myredbookcom-website-pleads-guilty-facilitating-prostitution