12/30/2014 – Washington — A California man pleaded guilty earlier this month in federal court in connection with his ownership and operation of a website dedicated to the promotion of prostitution nationally.
According to court paperwork, 53-year-old Eric Omuro, known as ‘Red’, operated a multi-million dollar prostitution organization out of his Mountain View, CA home.
The website, MyRedBook.com (formerly SFredbook.com) contained hundreds of thousands of blatant advertisements and postings related to the promotion of prostitution throughout the United States and Canada.
Eric Omuro, 53, of California.
Federal prosecutors argued that Omuro, and his female co-defendant Annemarie Lance, 40, of Rocklin, CA, engaged in criminal activity related to the interstate facilitation of prostitution via the USPS and the Internet. Prosecutors also argued that the pair engaged in money laundering to the tune of millions of dollars.
Omuro was arrested on June 25, 2014 following his federal indictment. He was released after his arrest on an unsecured $500,000 bond.
Federal investigators immediately seized Omuro’s domain names MyRedBook.com and SFredbook.com and posted the following ominous notice…
Prosecutors argued that Omuro’s website went beyond the boundaries of free speech and that Omuro actively participated and monetarily enriched himself from the promotion and facilitation of prostitution activities.
MyRedBook.com hosted advertisements for prostitution, complete with explicit pictures, lewd physical descriptions, menus of sexual services, hourly and nightly rates, and customer reviews of the prostitutes’ services.
An archived screen shot of the MyRedBook.com website can be seen below.
The website used acronyms for numerous sex acts, which were defined in graphic detail in the website’s “Terms and Acronyms” section. Although the website could be accessed for free, myredbook.com advertised fees for premier placement of prostitution advertisements and for “VIP Memberships,” which purportedly allowed customers access to “private forums” and heightened capabilities to search reviews of the prostitution services.
In addition to shutting down MyRedBook.com, federal prosecutors also seized more than $5-million in property and cash in Omoro’s possession.
Authorities execute a search warrant on Omuro’s residence.
Omuro pleaded guilty 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.
Lanoce pleded guilty Nov. 20, 2014, for assisting Omuro with the operations.
Omuro’s sentencing is set for March 26, 2015, and Lanoce’s sentencing hearing is set for March 19, 2015.
Click here to read the federal indictment against Omuro and Lanoce.
JohnTV could find no evidence contained within court documents supporting the media hype that MyRedBook.com and its owners knowingly engaged in forced prostitution, child prostitution or human trafficking. In fact, most evidence showed the women who promoted themselves on the website were engaged in consensual prostitution.
Additionally, federal prosecutors have not provided any information as to why MyRedBook.com was targeted while other much larger websites like Backpage.com, Preferred411.com and ECCIE.net have not been targeted for seizure and criminal prosecution.
Below is an assortment of YouTube videos regarding MyRedBook.com…