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GLENN B. McCORMICK

Acting United States Attorney District of Arizona

KEVIN M. RAPP (Ariz. Bar No. 014249, kevin.rapp@usdoj.gov) MARGARET PERLMETER (Ariz. Bar No. 024805, margaret.perlmeter@usdoj.gov) PETER S. KOZINETS (Ariz. Bar No. 019856, peter.kozinets@usdoj.gov) ANDREW C. STONE (Ariz. Bar No. 026543, andrew.stone@usdoj.gov) Assistant U.S. Attorneys

40 N. Central Avenue, Suite 1800

Phoenix, Arizona 85004-4408

Telephone (602) 514-7500

DAN G. BOYLE (N.Y. Bar No. 5216825, daniel.boyle2@usdoj.gov) Special Assistant U.S. Attorney 312 N. Spring Street, Suite 1400

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Telephone (213) 894-2426

KENNETH POLITE

Assistant Attorney General 

Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice

REGINALD E. JONES (Miss. Bar No. 102806, reginald.jones4@usdoj.gov) Senior Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice

Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section

950 Pennsylvania Ave N.W., Room 2116

Washington, D.C. 20530

Telephone (202) 616-2807 

Attorneys for Plaintiff

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

United States of America,

Plaintiff, 

v. 

Michael Lacey, et al.,

Defendants.

No. CR-18-422-PHX-SMB

UNITED STATES’ MEMORANDUM

RE RELEVANCE OF CERTAIN 

ASPECTS OF NACOLE 

SVENDGARD’S TESTIMONY

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The United States files this brief memorandum to inform the Court about certain 

topics that witness Nacole Svendgard is expected to testify about at trial. The government 

does so in order to ensure the Court is fully informed about the testimony’s relevance. 

Ms. Svendgard’s Categories of Testimony 

Ms. Svendgard is expected to testify to the following relevant events:

1. Recovering her daughter (“JS”) after running away from home between 

June-September 2010 and her involvement (as JS’s guardian) in the 

prosecution of JS’s pimp, Baruti Hopson, and a “John” (Julian Tarver), 

which involved JS being posted on Backpage.com.

2. Meetings she had with various Washington State elected officials, including 

the Seattle Mayor and Washington State Attorney General, in support of two 

legislative bills that dealt with trafficking children on Backpage.

3. Filing a civil lawsuit on behalf of JS against, among others, Backpage.com 

and JS’s pimp Baruti Hopson. In connection with this lawsuit, Ms. 

Svendgard will testify about (a) asking the National Center for Missing and 

Exploited Children (NCMEC) to file an amicus brief on behalf of her case, 

and (b) having her deposition taken by Backpage’s attorneys in July 2017, 

after the Washington State Supreme Court issued a favorable ruling that 

permitted the case to move to the discovery phase.1

4. Participation in two widely distributed documentaries (“The Long Night” 

and “I am Jane Doe”) about trafficking minors on Backpage. The United 

States believes the evidence will show that Defendants were aware and had 

notice of these two documentaries. 

5. Her testimony before the United States Senate on the same day that 

Defendants Larkin, Lacey, and Padilla appeared, along with the comment she 

believes Mr. Lacey directed at her.

1 J.S. v. Village Voice Media Holdings LLC, d/b/a Backpage.com and Baruti Hopson and New Times Media, 184 Wash.2d 95 (2015).

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The United States will focus on Ms. Svendgard’s meetings with the Seattle Mayor 

and the Washington State Attorney General, where the relevance may not be facially 

apparent. This is done to provide the Court with additional information about how trial 

testimony and exhibits from future witnesses will intersect with Ms. Svendgard’s 

testimony. 

A. Meeting with Seattle Mayor in 2011

In January 2011, following the trial and conviction of her daughter’s pimp, Baruti 

Hopson, Ms. Svendgard was contacted by the Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn (“McGinn”), 

for an in-person meeting in which she urged McGinn to force Backpage to implement age 

verification on the website. In response to this threat, Defendants arranged for a meeting 

with McGinn and sent him a letter detailing safety precautions that Backpage had 

purportedly implemented. The following exhibits are relevant to this series of meetings 

with Backpage representatives and McGinn and will be admitted through Carl Ferrer:

- Ex. 807, 7/11/11 email exchange between Ferrer and Kenny Stocker (publisher 

of the Seattle Weekly) re meeting with Backpage representatives and Mayor 

McGinn and Seattle Chief of Police. 

- Ex. 673, 8/4/11 letter from Ferrer to Mayor McGinn’s Chief of Staff re request 

by Seattle Mayor. 

- Ex. 676, 8/9/11-10/11 emails from Kenny Stocker to Larkin, Lacey, Ferrer and 

others re Mayor McGinn’s response.

Ferrer’s testimony will intersect with Ms. Svendgard’s on this issue, so these 

meetings are relevant in that they help demonstrate notice to Defendants that prostitution 

was occurring on their website.

B. Meeting with Washington State Attorney General in October 2011

In October 2011, Ms. Svendgard met with Washington State Attorney General 

Robert McKenna to discuss how two proposed laws would help to protect minors who 

were trafficked on Backpage. A few months earlier, in June 2011, AG McKenna’s 

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representatives met with Carl Ferrer and Don Bennett Moon to discuss Backpage.2 Ms. 

Svendgard’s testimony about this meeting is relevant, in part, due to the following email 

exchanges between, among others, Lacey, Larkin, Backpage’s attorney, and a public 

relations firm, criticizing McKenna and Washington State’s efforts to pass this legislation 

they viewed as detrimental to Backpage.

- Ex. 694, 11/17/11 email exchange between Spear and Ferrer re implementing 

age verification in Washington State in response to pressure from McGinn.

- Ex. 1016, 2/4/12 email from Lacey to Larkin, Ferrer, Backpage attorney and 

public relations firm Sitrick re McKenna’s statement in upcoming Forbes article.

- Ex. 1086 2/1/14 email exchange between Lacey and Larkin re the Washington 

State legislature proposed bill targeting Backpage (SB 6251).

Following Ms. Svendgard’s meeting with AG McKenna she testified at the 

Washington State Senate in support of SB 6251. This law was passed making it a felony 

to knowingly publish, disseminate, display, or to directly or indirectly cause content to be 

published, disseminated, or displayed if it contains a “depiction of a minor” and any 

“explicit or implicit offer” of sex for “something of value.” This law was struck down in 

Backpage LLC v. McKenna, 881 F. Supp. 2d 1262 (W.D. Wash. 2012), a decision 

referenced by Defendants in their opening statements.

When Ms. Svendgard’s two meetings with Washington elected officials are viewed 

in isolation their relevance may appear minimal. But when viewed in the larger context of 

this case, especially in conjunction with future exhibits the United States will offer for 

admission, it helps provide a coherent and comprehensible story about notice to these 

Defendants, including how they were continually made aware that their website was used 

for prostitution, including sex trafficking and child sex trafficking. (Doc. 1156 at 3) 

(“Evidence that tends to prove that Defendants were aware that Backpage.com was being 

2 That’s the meeting where Moon looked at Ferrer and stated “Don’t deny the undeniable.” (Doc. 1267 at Ex. A.)

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used to facilitate sex trafficking and child sex trafficking are extremely probative to show 

notice to Defendants that the website was being used for illegal purposes.”)

Respectfully submitted this 9th day of September, 2021.

GLENN B. McCORMICK

Acting United States Attorney District of Arizona

s/ Kevin M. Rapp KEVIN M. RAPP

MARGARET PERLMETER

PETER S. KOZINETS

ANDREW C. STONE

Assistant U.S. Attorneys

DAN G. BOYLE

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney

KENNETH POLITE

Assistant Attorney General 

U.S. Department of Justice 

Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice

REGINALD E. JONES

Senior Trial Attorney

U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division

Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on September 9, 2021, I electronically transmitted the attached 

document to the Clerk’s Office using the CM/ECF System for filing and transmittal of a 

Notice of Electronic Filing to the CM/ECF registrants who have entered their appearance 

as counsel of record.

s/ Marjorie Dieckman U.S. Attorney’s Office

Case 2:18-cr-00422-DJH Document 1285 Filed 09/09/21 Page 5 of 5