Even though Backpage has been gone for two years now, its effects are still being felt.
Recently, in Delaware County, Pennsylvania 24-year-old Troy Brockington-Winchester of Philadelphia was sentenced for attempted human trafficking. He was sentenced to 40 to 100 months in state prison with roughly seven months’ time served.
In 2016, Brockington-Winchester set up a date with a woman on Backpage. When he showed up to the woman’s apartment, he held her at gunpoint and told her that she was going to start working for him. He is said to have stolen $2700 from her and told her that she would need to work for him to get the money back. He tried to tie her up with zip ties but failed and instead tied her hands with a headphone cable. He told her that he was going to come back for her and that he would kill her if she called the cops.
She called the cops and when Brockington-Winchester arrived to get her police arrested him. He was found to have zip ties on him and a BB gun that resembled the real thing.
While the gun wasn’t real, I’m sure the terror this woman felt was genuine. Not only that but I feel like it shows that Backpage wasn’t as safe for escorts as a lot of people seem to think it was.
Real Crime with Trench Reynolds 