Transcripts For KGO Nightline 20160806

Hush my darling. Dont fear my darling. The lion sleeps tonight. [snoring. ] hush my darling. [snoring. ] dont fear my darling. The lion sleeps tonight. [snoring. ] take the roar out of snore. Yet another innovation only at a sleep number store. This is a special edition of nightline. Daughters for sale. Good evening. Thank you for joining us. Tonight we revisit a harrowing tale. One teenage daughter on the darkest of journeys disappearing into the internet sex trade. Our nightline investigation into the controversial classified site backpage. Com. Accused of making sex trafficking possible. One familys fight for justice. Here again is our special edition daughters for sale. Abcs Gloria Riviera. When i grow up id like to be a doctor. Reporter they are the sweet dreams of the seventh grade girl. Something i would like to do in my life is go to africa. Reporter but what lay ahead was a nightmare her parents never saw coming. They took everything from my little girl. I live in an american town. How can my kid be sold on the internet . Reporter a few short years after this video was taken, the 15yearold, who well call natalie, would be sold for sex through the website backpage. Com. How many encounters do you think you had during that time . Over 150. Over 150 . Yeah. Would that have been possible without backpage . No way. Reporter this saga led natalie to join a major lawsuit against backpage with other girls like her. Today, natalie is 21 years old and a mother herself. Why your decision to speak publicly . I dont just do it for myself. I do it for other families. Reporter similar to craigslist, backpage is a basic classified ad site. But with a racy adult section like escorts and body rubs. Technically Legal Services that Law Enforcement has called vinly veiled code for prostitution. The majority of children sold for sex in the United States today was trafficked using backpage. Reporter now backpage is also under investigation by the u. S. Senate. This is one of the last photos taken of natalie before she made the choice that would change her life forever. She ran away from home. I just wanted to get my parents attention. I was really scatterbrained at 15. Reporter when her parents found the farewell letter she left, they called the police. I was in shock. Gone . Why, where . How . Reporter natalie took a bus 30 miles to downtown seattle where she says she met an older girl at a youth shelter who introduced her to life on the streets. A pimp picked us up and then took us to his house. And then thats when i got raped. For the first time. After it happened, he threw a towel at me and some carpet cleaner and told me to clean up the carpet. Because there was blood. You were a virgin . Yeah. Reporter this first traumatic encounter sent natalie down a dark path. A path that eventually led her to this man, 32yearold verudy hobson. He said he was kind, offered a place to stay. I talked to him, confided in him about how stressed out i was. Reporter soon the dynamic dangerously changed. Hed asked me if i had ever worked before. Then he told me that i wouldnt be on the streets. Then thats when backpage came into play. What did he say about backpage . He said its safer. Said its easier not to get caught. Reporter through ads titled well worth it, 150 an hour, it wont take long at all, natalie says she started earning 4,000 a weekend for sex, handing over all the cash to hobson. He started getting physically abusive. He would sleep in the living room next to the front door so i couldnt leave. How often did you work . Every day. Its too simple. Ask if youre 18 or older, a simple yes was as far as that went. It tore our family apart. Reporter natalies father tom would spend his days driving around seattle. The dreams of her going to College Reporter searching desperately for his missing girl. Day after day, yeah. Reporter he learned she might be working the streets. The idea alone pushed him to a breaking point. What ran through my mind is what i was going to do, how i was going to handle it, when i found her. It wouldnt have been good for the pimp, i know that. Reporter later, natalies parents found out she wasnt even on the streets but being sold online. What was it like for you to realize that was going on with backpage . When you hear that your 15yearold child is posting an ad for sex or for rape, in her case, and that shes getting 25 to 30 calls an hour, and youre thinking, okay, how many of these is she having to answer . How many times a day is my child being raped . Reporter right now, u. S. Law protects backpage from being held legally responsible for what users post on its site. If someone advertises a faulty motorcycle, the buyer of that motorcycle shouldnt be able to sue backpage merely for posting the ad. Under the law, there is no difference between backpage posting the advertisement for the faulty motorcycle and posting the advertisement for the underaged girl. Reporter backpage, based in dallas, says they voluntarily put in place a multitiered system for screening ads which includes employing moderatomodea filter for key words, and a userreported flagging system. 2012 their attorney told nightline online Child Exploitation exists and the best tools to fight it are also online. Backpage. Com is currently one of the very best tools to fight it. Age 18 reporter seattles Police Department vice squad tells us they find underage girls listed on backpage all the time, including natalie, who they rescued in a hotel sting set up through her backpage ad 108 days after she went missing. Youre in his hotel room. He says, i know who you are, natalie. Instantly i saw storms of cops outside. Reporter one of those cops, this man, detective bill buyer. Yeah, seeing if youre available . I remember being guyer. Reminded me of my dad. Reporter he formed a special bond, helped her through the trial, he was sentenced to 26 years for commercial abuse of a minor. Tell her and every other girl, even though they dont want to go to court, i want to get them to the point they cant wait to get on the stand and point him out, say thats the piece of crap that did this to me. Reporter hes on a mission with the seattle vice squad. They agreed to take us inside a backpage sting. We want to post an ad and do it under escorts. Reporter this detective frequently goes undercover so has asked we not show his full face. I am at least 18 years of age or older, all you have to do is say i agree and one click and youre through that . Correct. Reporter were here to see what happens when you post a backage ad that suggests an underage girl is involved. The detective creates an ad for an 18yearold girl named angel, adding a critical detail, the mention of a younger friend. Heres the kicker, right . Younger friend. Reporter within minutes of pressing post the ad is up and running. The ad is essentially advertising an underage girl. Thats the way you figure out [ phone ringing ] weve gotten several phone calls, several texts, theyre really coming in. Hey, beautiful, are you angel . Oh, theres another one. It hasnt even been up half an hour. This is crazy. Reporter a full 24 hours later, were in a Seattle Hotel with the vice squad. Angels ad is still up and running, has yet to be taken down by backpage. We are using the fruits from what we planted yesterday. Reporter they brought in katie, an undercover cop who will pretend to be angel. So this is our ad that we posted 24 hours ago. But its still getting responses. And date te katie is writing bae if these guys will come meet an underaged girl for sex. Reporter she calls back a man who left a voice mail about the ad. She tells him shes 16 and the friend who will be joining them, 15. Okay, look forward to it. Im going to come to the window. Okay, im in the window, on the very far end, kind of near the flagpole. Me and my friend are standing in the window. Were going to wave to you. The scenario has been set up, this guys walking up right now. He thinks hes coming up to meet a 15 and 16yearold girl for sex. Hes in a royal blue shirt and has a fedora on. Stay here, stay here he tried to bolt. Just relax, relax. Relax, relax. Hands behind your back, police, youre under arrest. These girls that you were coming here to see today, how old were they . They said something what did they say . They said theyre 16. You know, so how old is that girl . 14, 15, 13. Doesnt bother you at all . Sir, i didnt i just just meeting and wanted to meeting and what . Play scrabble . No, i just wanted to make more friends out here. Reporter the man pled not guilty to attempted commercial sex abuse of a minor. Backpage stings like this are becoming commonplace across the country. Backpage tells us they make sure to always cooperate with Law Enforcement investigations. But for natalie and other girls suing the site, its not about catching clients. But holding the man behind it accountable. Hes just as accountable as the pimp that sold her in my mind. Karl ferrara . When we come back, see what he does when he track him down overseas. She was trafficked on backpage. Im billy, and i quit smoking with chantix. I decided to take chantix to shut everybody else up about me quitting smoking. I was going to give it a try, but i didnt really think it was going to really happen. After one week of chantix, i knew i could quit. Along with support, Chantix Varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. Chantix definitely helped reduce my urge to smoke. Some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. Some had seizures while taking chantix. If you have any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. Tell your doctor about any history of Mental Health problems, which could get worse or of seizures. Dont take chantix if youve had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. If you have these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away as some can be lifethreatening. Tell your doctor if you have heart or blood vessel problems, or develop new or worse symptoms. Get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. Decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. Most common sideaffect is nausea. Being a nonsmoker feels great. Ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. Craso come dive into disheser like the new alaska bairdi crab dinner with sweet crab from the icy waters of alaska. Or try crab lovers dream with tender snow and king crab legs. Love crab . Then hurry, crabfest ends soon. Poallergies . Reather. Stuffy nose . Cant sleep . Take that. 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Possibly a good place to find the man behind backpage. Com, ceo karl ferrara. Here we are in amsterdam. We realized backpage. Com was sold to an unnamed dutch company. We started looking. Did karl ferrara own companies in amsterdam . Ferrara seems to be running other escort services, including a site similar to backpage called cracker, available nearly everywhere except the United States. Turns out a lot of people are looking for this guy, including the u. S. Senate. Id like to call the ceo of backpage, karl ferrara. Reporter in march after he failed to show up to testify in a hearing about online sex trafficking the senate voted to charge karl ferrara with contempt of congress. We had hope mrd ferrara would be here. It was a unanimous vote, first time in 21 years the United States senate has done this, its a big deal. We want to know how much money theyre making. We want to know what their policies and procedures are for screening ads. Reporter backpage has refused to disclose this information but the senates investigators say they obtained Company Emails where moderators are told not to take down a post unless they are really very sure the girl is underage. D on discovery, emails that suggest backpage was telling moderators to actually edit ads. Things that have been edited out include the fact that a girl is underage. Im betting that when we get all the financials, theyre not making much money selling motorcycles, but theyre making a whole lot of money selling children. Reporter backpages Corporate Group is projected to have a revenue of 173 million this year alone. Although they will not say what percentage of this comes from the adult ads. Backpage declined to comment on the senates findings. They were fighting the contempt charge in a d. C. Court. Claiming the senates request is a violation of the first amendment, because it seeks every bit of information relating to every editorial decision made during the past six years. As weve been trying to find backpage ceo karl ferrara, weve tested out what happens when you post an ad using language that suggests an underage girl is involved. Youre under arrest. What were going to do now is email backpage to report the ad to see if they take it down. Hit report ad. Reporter we wanted to find out what would happen if we email backpage directly, flagging the ad as underage . Im sending their email, abuse at backpage. Com a note, saying i went on a date with the girl in this ad, im linking to the ad, she told me shes 15, were going to see whether or not backpage takes down the ad. It took a full eight hours for this response to land in our inbox. If you have information regarding the exploitation of a minor, please contact the National Center for missing and exploited children. Backpage told us later even though they think the ad does not clearly advertise that a girl under 18 is involved, their moderators did take it down. The company says they banned the account. They did report the ad to the National Center. Would you be surprised to know it stayed up 24 hours . I wouldnt. Reporter shes general counsel and says 73 of the reports they receive from the public about suspected underage trafficking involve a backpage post. Backpage maintains it has monitoring programs, that its consistently policing its own site. It also told nightline that backpage is online to fight human trafficking. I think thats a false statement. The i dont think you can be in the business of providing basically an online bazaar for escort ads that includes the purchase and sale of children for sex, and say that you are online to help fight the problem. Reporter with a long list of questions, our search for backpage ceo karl ferrara brings us here. Karl ferrara has turned out several interview requests. Weve come to this hotel in amsterdam because we found out there is a conference that karl is scheduled to attend. Turns out karl ferrara is an active member of the classified ad industry. Its a chance for me to talk to other ceos in the industry and share ideas. Reporter he attends a networking conference every year. It doesnt take long before we spot him. Karl karl ferrara . Yes. Hi, weve been looking for you. Do you have a second . Im Gloria Riviera with abc news. We want to ask you a few questions. Oh, im you know, Law Enforcement tells us that underage girls are trafficked on backpage. Com. Your company. No comment. We saw a reallife example of this last week. Mr. Ferrara, just a moment. Weve come a long way. Five minutes . Please, im sorry we spoke to a father who has a 15yearold girl. She was trafficked on backpage. I am sorry. Youre a father, what would you want to say to him . He wants to know why this is going on. Please we just need a few minutes of your time. Initially when he saw us he said hello, how are you . As soon as we brought up Law Enforcement and the underage trafficking of young girls, he said he didnt want to talk to us excuse me, please reporter karl ferrara might not have wanted to answer our questions but he may not have that luxury when it comes to the senate. Hes in amsterdam because he wants to avoid the bright light of attention we are placing on his company. I dont think amsterdam is far enough for him to go. Reporter others like natalie and her family are waiting for their own day in court, hoping her lawsuit which claims backpage knowingly edited content which enabled prostitution succeeds. Backpage denies these allegations and is fighting them in court. To whoever owns backpage, hes got to go home at night and know hes selling kids today. Hes just as accountable as the pimp that sold her in my mind. Reporter in a statement to abc news backpage said, while the experiences of children who have been exploited are tragic and heartbreaking, the solution does not lie in making Online Service providers responsible for millions of posts by thirdparty users. Calling it censorship. Little comfort to those whose lives are so deeply affected, like natalie, her family, and detective guyer. To this day, jurisdiction years later, he calls me on my birthday. Every year. Every year . Every year. Hes the godfather of my little girl. Hes my hero. To me it saved my little girl. Brought her home. Reporter today the two men who share a special bond are about to be reunited. Its been three years since they last saw each other. How are you doing . Good to see you. Yeah, good to see you. Oh, wow. Yeah. This is great. Shes going to be all right. Reporter this is not a fight tom, nicole, and natalie chose. But its one they say they are determined to win. For other little girls and their dreams. 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You love it so much i feel like when he eats beneful, he kind turns into a puppy again. Its protein. Its vegetables. Its grains. I mean, like that sounds like a dinner id make for myself, right . riley hey its a big bag. Just have some of mine. vo try new beneful healthy weight with chicken. Now with real chicken as the number one ingredient, healthful. Flavorful. Beneful. Try cool mint zantac. Hey, need fast heartburn relief . It releases a cooling sensation in your mouth and throat. Zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. Nexium can take 24 hours. Try cool mint zantac. No pill relieves heartburn faster. And theres an update. Today in a major victory for the senate, a d. C. Judge ruled that karl ferrere and backpage have to turn over all the requested documents per taping to their escort ads within the next ten days. Our thanks to Gloria Riviera and nightline producers jackie jesco and Sally Hawkins for that hi, its me. [imitates fanfare] lois prices from Grocery Outlet. Hi, its. 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