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SAN DIEGO – Michael James Pratt, a man on the FBI’s Most Wanted Fugitives list who operated a San Diego-based pornography production company and related websites GirlsDoToys and GirlsDoPorn, was captured in Spain this week. The man who hails from New Zealand had been evading sex trafficking charges, including coercing women to have sex on camera.
Pratt, 39, was arrested by Spanish authorities Friday in Madrid. According to El Espanol, he had checked into a hotel in the center of the city Wednesday using one of his many aliases.
Spain’s National Police Corps released a video of Pratt’s arrest. Although a tweet of the video didn’t specifically name him, it described the suspect as a New Zealand citizen wanted by the FBI, reported Fox News.
In September Pratt was added to the FBI’s top 10 list and a $100,000 reward was being offered for information leading to his arrest. His co-defendants were taken into custody three years ago, Law Officer reported.
“The capture of Michael Pratt is an example of how the FBI will pursue justice beyond U.S. borders—you can run but you can’t hide,” Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy of the FBI San Diego Field Office said in a statement.
Pratt is charged in U.S. District Court in San Diego with conspiracy and sex trafficking crimes. The offenses are connected to a seven-year enterprise that victimized women via force, coercion, and fraud into filming sex videos that were then posted online without their consent, Law&Crime reported.
According to prosecutors, Pratt operated a pornography production company and related websites GirlsDoToys and GirlsDoPorn that generated “more than $17 million in revenue” by selling access to videos that were filmed under fraudulent circumstances.
During the filming of videos, women reported being sexually assaulted and held against their will as they were not allowed to leave. The crimes primarily occurred at San Diego area hotels and rentals.
Four of Pratt’s co-defendants pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, according to Law&Crime.
Ruben Andre Garcia was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Matthew Isaac Wolfe, Theodore Wilfred Gyi and Valorie Moser were scheduled to be sentenced in October. However, it is unclear if they have yet to receive their fate.
Moy previously said that locating Pratt “is a high priority for the FBI in order to stop him from victimizing anyone else.”
“Michael James Pratt preyed on young women and girls and allegedly coerced or forced them through threats and fraud to participate in pornographic videos,” Moy said in a September press release. “He engages in dangerous and deceptive practices wherever he goes, and we will not waver until justice is served.”
“This was a despicable crime that has devastated its victims,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, Randy Grossman, said in September.
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Source: www.lawofficer.com