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HOUSTON (Fox 26) - On Friday, Samantha Hernandez heard the news she had been waiting for her entire career as an advocate against sex trafficking.
Federal authorities shut down Backpage.com, a website known for its ads for sexual services often with young girls.
“The first place I look for victims of sex trafficking is on Backpage,” said Hernandez who works for Elijah Rising in Houston. The organizations work with survivors of human trafficking. She says it’s difficult to quantify how much Backpage has affected the lives of victims of sexual exploitation but the damage is severe.
“Almost every single woman we’ve encountered on our outreaches and in our aftercare program have been affected and sold on Backpage.com,” she explained.
The Center for Missing and Exploited Children says nearly three-quarters of the reports they receive about online child sex trafficking involve the site.
Federal authorities have also charged seven individuals including the website founders, Michael Lacey and James Larkin, in a 93-count federal indictment. The charges include facilitating prostitution and money laundering.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office was also involved in the takedown of Backpage. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton noted in a press release, Carl Ferrer, the CEO of Backpage, was arrested in Houston in 2016. A subsequent search at the company’s Dallas headquarters led to evidence used in the federal investigation.
In Harris County, the seizure of Backpage was also good news for law enforcement.
“I can tell you that on the multiple proactive stings that we have done, most of the traffic that we were able to intercept came from Backpage,” said Constable Alan Rosen, Harris County Precinct 1.
Rosen says he’s “elated” Backpage is gone. However, he knows other sites like it still exist and more will come.
“We’re always vigilant looking for other sources, other sites, other places where this kind of activity is going to go on because I can assure you it will,” Rosen added.
Rosen and advocates like Hernandez recently passed legislation in Congress will help in the criminal and legal battles against sites like Backpage. Earlier this year, the U.S. Senate passed in the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act or (FOSTA) and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Kathy McGibbon is a survivor of sex trafficking and works as Program Director at Elijan Rising. She was traveling and could not be interviewed on-camera but said in a statement:
"Though the residue of my past still lingers online due to images I was forced to take, today I have hope. The passing of FOSTA SESTA and the seizure of Backpage is an overwhelming victory for so many survivors who simply want to rebuild their lives without the fear of their past. Today, I feel we have finally been given that opportunity."