OCT. 10, 2019 6:16 PMSAN DIEGO — The owner of a pornographic website, who headed to New Zealand during his ongoing civil trial on claims he tricked young women into making sex videos, was indicted with three others Thursday on federal sex trafficking charges.The indictment was unsealed after three of the defendants linked to the GirlsDoPorn.com website appeared in a San Diego federal courtroom. Two men pleaded not guilty and a woman was ordered to return to court Friday after talking to a defense attorney.

Principal owner Michael James Pratt was not in court, as he left the country last month after his civil trial in San Diego Superior Court got underway. Pratt, Michael Wolfe and Ruben Andre Garcia face civil fraud and breach of contract allegations by 22 women who said their sex videos were posted online despite assurances that would not happen. Many of the women also claim they were not paid as much as they were promised.

Wolfe and Garcia were arrested this week in connection with the criminal case. Pratt remains a fugitive.

Their civil trial, which began in August, was suspended Thursday when word of the federal arrests reached the Superior Court trial judge. He ordered attorneys to return on Tuesday to discuss the next steps. Defense lawyers said they want the civil case on hold until the criminal case is resolved, but the plaintiffs’ attorneys object to that delay.

After the federal court hearing, Brian Holm, an attorney for the women in the civil case, said he wasn’t surprised by the criminal charges. But he added, “The timing of course was a surprise, when we’re two weeks away from finishing.”

Co-counsel added, “I was glad to see the wheels of justice are grinding away. They’ve perpetuated some serious crimes.”

Defense attorneys in the civil case declined comment.

The federal complaint describes Pratt, 36, and Wolfe, 37, as owners of adult websites GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys, with Garcia, 31, as a performer and producer and Valorie Moser, 37, an administrative assistant.

The fee-based sites generated more than $17 million in revenue, according to the complaint.

Wolfe and Garcia are being held in federal jail and appeared in federal court in handcuffs and ankle chains.

Moser was not in custody Thursday, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Lopez told her to return to court Friday to be arraigned.

The three men are charged with three counts of sex trafficking by force, threats, fraud or coercion, involving separate victims in 2013 and 2015, and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. Moser is charged with conspiracy. They each face up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

An affidavit filed by an FBI agent as part of the federal complaint says all four defendants participated in a conspiracy dating back to 2013 to recruit young adult women for online sex videos. The women, from all over the country, answered Craigslist ads seeking models. When they answered the ads, they were told they’d be making erotic videos and would be paid $3,000 to $5,000 for a one-day shoot.

Women who continued to express interest were assured that the videos would be sent overseas on DVDs for private collectors and would not be posted online, the affidavit says. With those promises, the women flew to San Diego, where the videos were made. Wolfe, Garcia and Moser are San Diego residents, while Pratt is from New Zealand.

The complaint alleges the women were plied with alcohol and sometimes marijuana, then rushed into signing documents that gave the company full rights to distribution of the videos. Several women reported that Garcia assaulted them before or after the filming.

It was also alleged that the videos started showing up on the websites within a few months. Many women have testified in the civil trial that they were harassed and even threatened on social media, calls and texts, once their identities became known in connection with the sex films. Strangers notified the women’s families, schools and employers about the videos.

Women started suing Pratt, Wolfe, Garcia and company BLL Media in 2016. The civil trial opened in August, with the women, identified in court as “Jane Does 1-22″ testifying that the men made them repeated promises that the videos would not go online. The men also are alleged to have paid other women to pretend to have made similar videos with no problems.

Garcia invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself and will not be called to testify. Wolfe testified that the women were not told about the GirlsDoPorn site. He also said Pratt had gone to New Zealand.