San Diego, CA–A former San Diego bookkeeper for an adult website pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to conspiring with the operators of the website to fraudulently coerce young women to appear in sex videos.
Valorie Moser, 38, who worked for GirlsDoPorn from 2015 to 2018, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Linda Lopez to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion. Moser, the third of six defendants to plead guilty, admitted that she served as the site’s bookkeeper, made travel arrangements for models, provided transportation for approximately 100 models once they arrived in San Diego, and performed miscellaneous other tasks. Moser reported her accounting activities to co-defendant Matthew Wolfe, and her interactions with the models to co-defendant Michael Pratt and others.
Moser admitted she knew that site’s produced pornographic videos for publication and dissemination on the internet, and that the young women being recruited to star in these pornographic videos had been provided false assurances that the videos would not be published on the internet. For example, Moser overheard Pratt, using the alias “Mark,” telling prospective models that the video footage would only be distributed on DVDs in Australia, and that the models would remain anonymous, statements that Moser knew to be false.
Further, Pratt instructed Moser not to tell the women the truth about their video’s distribution as she drove the young women to and from the video shoots. Moser was to tell the women that she was just an Uber driver. Later, Pratt told Moser to tell the women that she was bound by a non-disclosure agreement and could not discuss it.
After the videos were posted on-line and widely available, many women contacted Moser to ask that their videos be taken down. Pratt, Wolfe and co-defendant Ruben Garcia all told Moser to block any calls from the women.
Moser also attempted to recruit potential models. Pratt gave her a list of names and numbers and showed her how to use a spoof program to conceal her actual phone number when making calls. Moser was aware that Pratt had a grading system for young women, and that she would get paid more if Pratt found the recruited women attractive. Pratt instructed Moser to tell all prospective models the same lie – that the videos would be released solely on DVD in Australia. Moser knew this to be false. Moser never actually recruited anyone and therefore never made these promises.
“This defendant was a willing participant in a scheme that has traumatized many victims,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “We will continue to seek justice for these women, and to prevent others from becoming ensnared by sex traffickers.”
Grossman commended the excellent work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Green and Alexandra Foster, as well as FBI agents and members of the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, for their continuing effort to investigate and prosecute the case.
“Valorie Moser’s guilty plea closes yet another chapter in this deplorable crime ring,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner. “The defendant used lies and deceit to help facilitate this sex trafficking conspiracy.”
Moser is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino on July 2 in federal court. The next hearing in the ongoing case is May 7 before Judge Sammartino.