SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The FBI has raised their reward offer up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest of a New Zealand man accused of operating San Diego-based pornographic websites that recruited young women and at least one teenage girl to engage in commercial sex acts by force, fraud, and coercion.
According to the FBI, 37-year-old Michael James Pratt co-owned and ran online sites called "Girls Do Porn" and "Girls Do Toys” with his co-conspirator, Matthew Isaac Wolfe.
The FBI says Pratt and his accomplices recruited young women from around the United States by posting advertisements for clothed modeling jobs on the Internet. They advised the women responding to the ads that the jobs were in fact for pornographic videos and that they would be paid between $3,000 to $5,000 for a one-day video shoot.
To persuade the women to participate, Pratt and the others allegedly convinced the women they would remain anonymous, that their videos would be provided to private collectors on DVD, and would not be posted on the Internet.
Other young women were allegedly paid by Pratt for working at his direction to act as references or provide false assurances to the women that, if they filmed a video, the video would not be posted online.
Some women were not permitted to leave the shooting locations until the videos were made and others were reportedly forced to perform certain sex acts they had declined to do. Officials say some of the women were allegedly sexually assaulted.
Pratt’s pornography websites generated more than $17 million in revenue, according to the FBI.
All of Pratt’s co-conspirators have been arrested and have either pled guilty or are awaiting trial. Pratt is the lone outstanding fugitive in this case.
“The defendant lied and tricked these women, made millions along the way, and left his co-conspirators to face justice while he fled,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner.
“Michael James Pratt is a danger to society, regardless of where he is and is likely still victimizing people while on the run with his continued lies and false promises.”
Pratt has ties to multiple countries and has the financial means to be anywhere around the world.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Michael James Pratt is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI, go to tips.fbi.gov [tips.fbi.gov], or contact your local FBI field office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.
