SAN DIEGO — GirlsDoPorn recruiter and male talent Ruben Andre "Dre" Garcia formally pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to sex trafficking charges against him in the case that also involves the site’s fugitive owner, Michael Pratt, and others.
Garcia pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill L. Burkhardt to the charges of Conspiracy to Commit Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud and Coercion, and Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud and Coercion.
According to court documents reviewed by XBIZ, Garcia began the process to formally change his plea from “not guilty” to “guilty” for two of the federal charges against him on November 12, when his lawyer, veteran San Diego criminal attorney Jan Ronis, motioned to withdraw the defendant’s initial plea for the two counts.
A Change of Plea hearing was set on that date at the request of Garcia’s counsel for November 23.
Court documents show on that date, a hearing was held before Magistrate Judge Andrew G. Schopler. Garcia was not present due to being “not medically available” and a continuance was issued.
That same day, Judge Schopler issued his findings and recommendation concerning the Change of Plea, accepting Garcia’s “guilty” plea for charges 1 and 7 of the 8-charge indictment against the GirlsDoPorn operators and employees.
The Charges
Michael Pratt has been a fugitive from U.S. federal authorities since late 2019. Pratt left the country before the October 2019 trial for the civil lawsuit filed by 22 former models suing GirlsDoPorn for fraud. The civil trial — which a judge later decided against Pratt and GirlsDoPorn with a multimillion-dollar award to the plaintiffs — was overshadowed during the testimony phase by the unsealing of a parallel criminal case and FBI investigation against Pratt and his associates and employees for conspiracy and sex trafficking.
Three of Pratt's associates are currently in federal custody, including main male talent Garcia, who has been accused of rape and sexual assault by some of the models.
The federal indictment, issued January 2019, names Pratt, Garcia, Matthew Wolfe, Theodore "Teddy" Gyi, Valorie Moser and Amberlyn Clark as co-conspirators in the GirlsDoPorn operation.
The six are accused of Count 1, “Conspiracy to Commit Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud and Coercion” against five victims, only identified as Victims 1-5, and “others.”
This is one of the two charges for which Garcia changed his plea last month.
Counts 2 and 3 (for “Production of Child Pornography” and “Sex Trafficking of a Minor and by Force, Fraud and Coercion”) only name Pratt and Minor Victim 1.
Counts 4 through 8 are all for “Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud and Coercion.” Count 4 names Pratt, Wolfe and Garcia against Victim 1. Charge 5 names Pratt and Garcia against Victim 2. Count 6 names Pratt, Wolfe and Garcia against Victim 3.
Count 7, the other charge for which Garcia changed his plea last month, names him, Pratt and Gyi against Victim 4.
Count 8 also names Garcia, Pratt and Gyi against Victim 5.
Questions Linger
It remains unclear why Garcia began the process of changing his plea in November, and only for Counts 1 and 7.
Gyi was not originally mentioned by name in the FBI investigation, which was dramatically unveiled in the middle of the civil trial where 22 Jane Doe models sued Pratt and his GirlsDoPorn associates for damages.
Wolfe served as the main videographer (calling himself, besides “Ben Fox,” either “Joshua” or “Isaac”) for the operation in the years in question and said, on the stand during the civil trial, that he had “filmed over 100 adult videos for GirlsDoPorn.”
But during the last era of GirlsDoPorn, Wolfe was replaced by someone the criminal complaint only lists as “Uncharged Co-Conspirator No. 1.” This second videographer was presumed by legal sources to be collaborating with the FBI, perhaps in exchange for leniency.
The only other GirlsDoPorn videographer who testified in early September in the civil trial is Theodore Gyi, who confirmed key aspects of the Jane Does' testimonies. Gyi is not mentioned by name by the FBI in the criminal probe.
It is not known at this point whether Garcia "flipped" and is providing information to the government in their case against Pratt, Wolfe and the others as part of a plea deal.
“This defendant was a key player in a despicable fraud that has devastated the victims,” said U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer. “We will continue to fight for justice for them, and to prevent others from becoming victims of these schemes.” Brewer commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Green and Alexandra F. Foster, as well as FBI agents and members of the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force.
Garcia has a sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino on February 12, 2021.
The next hearing in the ongoing case is January 22.
Michael Pratt remains a fugitive, and was last presumed to be in his native New Zealand over a year ago.
For XBIZ’s ongoing coverage of the GirlsDoPorn case, click here.