Judge Rejects Pimping Charges Against Escort Site Backpage.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – A California judge rejected pimping charges Friday against the operators of a major international website advertising escort services that the state attorney general has called the “world’s top online brothel,” citing federal free speech laws.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris had charged Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer and former owners Michael Lacey and James Larkin, but Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman sided with atto