Request to ditch ankle monitor for Hawaiian beach vacation prompts release of new Backpage evidence
The co-founder of Backpage, accused of facilitating prostitution, asked for his ankle monitor to be removed. The government responded with new evidence against him.
Request to ditch ankle monitor for Hawaiian beach vacation prompts release of new Backpage evidence The co-founder of Backpage, accused of facilitating prostitution, asked for his ankle monitor to be removed. The government responded with new evidence against him. Check out this story on azcentral.com: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2019/04/23/backpage-prostitution-case-michael-lacey-request-ditch-ankle-monitor-prompts-evidence-dump/3555717002/
In this Jan. 10, 2017, photo, Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer (from left), former owner James Larkin, COO Andrew Padilla, and former owner Michael Lacey, are sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, prior to testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee hearing into Backpage.com's alleged facilitation of online sex trafficking. Cliff Owen/Associated Press
2017 congressional hearing into Backpage
Former Backpage.com owners, James Larkin, (left), and Michael Lacey appear on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Jan. 10, 2017, before, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations hearing into Backpage.com knowing facilitation of online sex trafficking, Cliff Owen/Associated Press
Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer appears on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations hearing into Backpage.com knowing facilitation of online sex trafficking. Cliff Owen/Associated Press
Kubiiki P. wipes tears from her eyes as she testifies about her daughter becoming sex trafficked during the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee hearing into Backpage.com knowing facilitation of online sex trafficking, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Cliff Owen/Associated Press
Former Backpage.com owner Michael Lacey appears on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations hearing into Backpage.com knowing facilitation of online sex trafficking. Cliff Owen/Associated Press
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee member Sen. John McCain, R-Az., questions witnesses during the committee's hearing into Backpage.com knowing facilitation of online sex trafficking, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Cliff Owen/Associated Press
Former Backpage.com owner James Larkin appears on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations hearing into Backpage.com knowing facilitation of online sex trafficking. Cliff Owen/Associated Press
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee ranking member Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., (left) walks past Backpage.com former owners James Larkin, center, and Michael Lacey at the start of the committee's hearing into Backpage.com knowing facilitation of online sex trafficking, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Cliff Owen/Associated Press
Backpage.com management and former owners sit at the witness table on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, during the the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee hearing into Backpage.com knowing facilitation of online sex trafficking. Cliff Owen/Associated Press
Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer (left) and former owner Michael Lacey exit the hearing room on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, after appearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations hearing into Backpage.com knowing facilitation of online sex trafficking. Cliff Owen/Associated Press
Former Backpage.com owner Michael Lacey leaves the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. Cliff Owen/Associated Press
Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer leaves the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, after invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Cliff Owen/Associated Press
In this Jan. 10, 2017, photo, Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer (from left), former owner James Larkin, COO Andrew Padilla, and former owner Michael Lacey, are sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, prior to testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee hearing into Backpage.com's alleged facilitation of online sex trafficking.
Richard Ruelas, Arizona Republic Published 8:55 p.m. MT April 23, 2019
Ahead of a trip to Hawaii, Michael Lacey, who stands accused of using the shuttered Backpage website to aid prostitution, filed what apparently seemed to him a modest request:
Could he have his ankle monitor removed so he could enjoy the beach on his vacation?
His attorneys said the motion wasn't just for recreation, but for health reasons. Lacey had a brief hospital stay, the motion said, that served as a wake-up call.
Lacey has put on weight and takes high blood pressure medication, according to his filing. His preferred aerobic activity, according to the motion, was swimming, something the ankle monitor prevents him from doing.
He even noted that the officer assigned to monitor him had no objection to the monitor being removed.
The government, in reply, forcefully argued the monitor should not be removed and, in doing so, revealed new details in the year-old case against Lacey and the other former Backpage executives charged in the case. The new evidence, the prosecutors said, could make Lacey a greater flight risk.
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But on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich, who was assigned the case in March, heard arguments and decided the monitor should stay on. Lacey, she suggested could find activities out of the water.
Lacey has worn the ankle monitor since he was released from custody on April 18, 2018, after posting a $1 million bond.
He was charged as part of a 100-count indictment that included charges of facilitating prostitution and money laundering. Also named in the indictment were James Larkin, the website's other co-founder, Scott Spear, a former executive vice president, and John "Jed" Brunst, the website's former chief financial officer.
All four of those men were also executives of New Times, a Phoenix alternative weekly that grew into an empire that eventually included New York's Village Voice.
Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey walks out of the Sandra Day O'Connor Federal Courthouse in Phoenix on April 13, 2018. (Photo: Tom Tingle/The Republic)
The Backpage website took its name from the actual back page of classified ads that sold for a premium in the printed editions of New Times.
A New Times employee named Carl Ferrer, seeing the migration of classified advertising to the digital sphere, convinced Lacey and Larkin to start the website.
Ferrer has since pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit prostitution charges on behalf of both himself and Backpage and has agreed to testify against his former bosses.
Attorneys for Lacey and three other Backpage executives charged in the case filed a motion Monday that the charges be dropped.
"The government's conduct of this case reflects an alarming disregard for the rule of law and constitutional norms," the motion read.
Prosecutors have not yet filed a response to that motion. It was not discussed at length during Tuesday's hearing.
READ MORE: Feds say Backpage plotted to be prostitution hub
Argument: Fight, not flight
Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer (left) and former owner Michael Lacey exit the hearing room on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, after appearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations hearing into Backpage.com knowing facilitation of online sex trafficking. (Photo: Cliff Owen/Associated Press)
Backpage, whose revenue came primarily from adult-oriented ads, became the target of civil lawsuits and criminal complaints. Lacey has vociferously fought charges that his website did anything wrong.
His desire to defend himself in court was used in his motion to remove his ankle monitor.
His filing said he wouldn't flee because he remains committed to beating the charges regarding Backpage. The motion also noted Lacey's longstanding ties to the Phoenix area.
The government, in its arguments that the ankle monitor remains, said the case against Lacey has grown stronger over the past year.
"[S]ince his arrest, the weight of the evidence against Lacey has increased," the government wrote in the document, "and so has his exposure to a lengthy prison sentence if convicted."
Among the new evidence, prosecutors included in their April motion were emails between Backpage executives, including Lacey, and a public relations firm. Those emails, the government says, include an admission by Lacey that Backpage ads were used for child sex trafficking.
That seeming admission came in an email from Lacey to a public relations manager crafting a response to the New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who asked about a 13-year-old girl allegedly sold on Backpage.
In an email, Lacey compared underaged girls being advertised on Backpage with underage patrons at drinking establishments.
"Of course there are kids who get through system," Lacey wrote in a January 2012 email included in the government's motion. "as there are in bars."
READ MORE: Emails reveal how Backpage edited sex ads
Plea agreement used as evidence
Former Backpage.com owner Michael Lacey leaves the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. (Photo: Cliff Owen/Associated Press)
The government also pointed to a pair of cases in which courts imposed sanctions on Backpage for fraudulent statements.
In both cases, the courts used the plea agreement entered into by Backpage as evidence against Lacey, Larkin and the other defendants.
Those courts, in Illinois and Washington, argued that Backpage executives were being deceitful while defending themselves against allegations of soliciting prostitution.
The federal prosecutors in Phoenix, in their motion, signaled they intend to use Backpage's plea deal as evidence against Lacey.
Backpage's guilty plea was agreed to by the website's chief executive officer, Ferrer, as part of his plea deal as an individual.
Also pleading guilty to charges in the case was Dan Hyer, who was the sales and marketing director of Backpage.
READ MORE: How outsourcing to India helped investigators unravel Backpage activities
Former Backpage.com owners, James Larkin, (left), and Michael Lacey appear on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Jan. 10, 2017, before, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent subcommittee on Investigations hearing into Backpage.com knowing facilitation of online sex trafficking, (Photo: Cliff Owen/Associated Press)
The government's filing says that "Lacey certainly cannot claim he was unaware of Backpage's facilitation of prostitution, especially in light of Ferrer's, Hyer's and Backpage's recent guilty pleas."
Lacey, in his reply to the government, noted that the plea agreement was based on a sworn statement by Ferrer, not Lacey, who has consistently vowed to fight the charges.
Lacey's reply also cites case law that says courts should be wary of accepting plea deals as evidence as they often reflect what the government wishes to hear, not necessarily the truth.
Ferrer in his guilty plea said that he knew the "great majority" of escort ads on Backpage were ads for prostitution. He also said escort ads provided most of Backpage's revenue.
Hyer, in his plea deal, said he knew ads on the website were offering "illegal prostitution services." Hyer, in his plea, said Backpage edited the ads to make them less overt, but those changes "did nothing to change the services being offered."
Hyer also said he and another executive at the website used the term "models" in emails to refer to girls who appeared under 18. The reason, he said, was to avoid "looking bad in a lawsuit."
READ MORE: Sex workers 'devastated' by Backpage closure
'A powerful incentive to flee'
The government argued that Lacey, even if convicted of a fraction of the charges, would likely spend the rest of his life in prison. "Such exposure creates a powerful incentive to flee," prosecutors argued.
However, attorneys for the Backpage defendants attempted to toss out the entire case with its motion filed on Monday. That motion argues the government brought the case under a faulty theory of law.
The government brought the charges against the Backpage executives using 50 specific ads that were posted on the website, the motion says, but has no evidence the executives knew anything about those ads.
The motion contends that the government needs to point to specific ads and prove that the executives knew about each specifically and intended them to be used for prostitution.
The government needs to be specific, the motion contends, and not accuse the executives of generalized conduct since they have specific rights under the First Amendment to publish freely.
"Just as the government cannot assume books are obscene if they are sold in an adult bookstore, it cannot presume escort ads are for prostitution," the motion reads.
In more mundane matters in the argument over the ankle monitor, the government said Lacey knew of the conditions of his release, including the ankle bracelet, when he agreed to them and that nothing had changed.
Judge Brnovich said from the bench on Tuesday that Lacey provided no compelling reason why he couldn't partake in cycling, using a treadmill or other aerobic activities besides swimming.
In a footnote in his filing, Lacey notes that he and his wife traveled to Hawaii in March, presumably with the ankle monitor attached and kept away from ocean water.
Richard Ruelas writes about people and places in Arizona. Reach him at richard.ruelas@arizonarepublic.com or at @ruelaswritings on Twitter.
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