A Torrance man who admitted lying to federal investigators about his relationship with a 16-year-old girl he met online and hired for sex was sentenced Tuesday to 57 months in federal prison for obstructing a sex-trafficking probe.
Charles Goswitz, 59, a court videographer who used the online moniker “Baldy Cruiser,” was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell to surrender in 60 days to begin serving his sentence. Upon completion of his prison term, Goswitz will be subject to five years’ supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender for life, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The case marks the first federal prosecution in the Los Angeles region of a so-called “John” in a teen sex-trafficking investigation and only the second such federal prosecution nationwide, prosecutors said.
“Human trafficking inflicts tremendous harm on its victims, especially when those victims are children,” said Eileen M. Decker, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles. “We have a duty to protect children from these predators, which includes prosecuting those who purchase children for sex. The significant sentence the defendant received in this case should serve as a warning to adults who engage in this type of criminal conduct. Although this is the first case of its kind in this district, it will not be the last.”
The probe into Goswitz’s activities began in February 2013 after federal agents received a tip from the Long Beach Police Department about a missing teen whose father suspected she was involved in prostitution, according to prosecutors.
During the ensuing investigation, authorities located sexually explicit images of the victim in an advertisement Goswitz posted on Backpage.com soliciting sex, officials said.
According to an affidavit, agents met with Goswitz to advise him that the teen was missing and that she was a potential human trafficking victim.
The affidavit states Goswitz denied ever meeting the girl, claiming he obtained the photographs of her online.
Two months later, federal agents again questioned Goswitz, at which time he admitted engaging in prostitution with the victim, according to the affidavit.
Additionally, Goswitz acknowledged he had contacted the victim after his initial meeting with investigators, and confirmed he had the girl and other females with whom he engaged in sex acts pose for explicit photos wearing T- shirts saying “I love Baldy Cruiser,” prosecutors said.
He then posted those images on Internet sex forums as proof of his sexual exploits, authorities said.
“This case should put commercial sex patrons on notice,” said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Los Angeles.
“Those who pay for sex with minors are contributing in no small way to the current epidemic of teen and child sex-trafficking,” he said. “The clients in these cases are, for all intents and purposes, as culpable as the actual traffickers and we intend to hold them accountable for their actions.”
— Wire reports