A California man who ran the website myRedBook[.]com has pleaded guilty to “facilitating prostitution,” according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
On Thursday, the FBI announced that Eric Omuro, also known as “Red,” admitted to hosting ads on his website for sexual services. Feds noted that the action “represents the first federal conviction of a website operator for facilitation of prostitution.”
Last month, a co-defendant, Annemarie Lanoce, 40, pleaded guilty to helping Omuro operate the website.
“As part of the plea agreement, 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 FBI release said. “Omuro admitted that 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 was arrested in June, the agency said, and under the terms of a plea agreement, he has agreed to surrender the domain names myRedBook[.]com and sfredbook[.]com. In addition, he must forfeit more than $1.28 million in cash and property linked to the illegal activity.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 26, 2015, exactly a week after Lanoce's planned hearing date.
