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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Prison Time for Owner of SF Hooker Website

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - The operator of escort website myRedBook.com was sentenced to 13 months in prison, the first federal conviction of a prostitution website operator, the Justice Department said on Thursday.

Eric Omuro, 33, was arrested with his girlfriend in June 2014 for running sfredbook.com - later myRedBook.com - for the purposes of facilitating prostitution.

The girlfriend, 40-year-old Annmarie Lanoce pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the enterprise this past November.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Omuro admitted running the website over a four-year period between 2010 and 2014. He admitted that the website hosted explicit photos and descriptions of the prostitutes and the services they offered, as well as their rates.

The website allowed for searches geographically and included prostitutes located throughout the United States and Canada.

While free, prostitutes could pay to have their ads featured more prominently on the website. Johns could also pay a fee to access prostitute reviews, enhanced descriptions and user forums, the Justice Department said.

The FBI said it found more than 50 juveniles advertised on the website for purposes of prostitution during its investigation.

In addition to his 13-month sentence, Omuro agreed to forfeit $1.28 million in cash and property, as well as the sfredbook.com and myRedBook.com domain names.

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