Published in 2022
6 hours and 48 minutes
Telling stories as a radio host, then as a costumed tour guide, Sara Sheckells followed a career path into academia before her love of the literary pulled her back to the mic. Sara’s narration style has been described as sophisticated, smooth, and smart. Her knowledge of higher education, adolescence, and career development informs her narrations in multiple genres, including literary fiction, memoirs, self-development, and women’s fiction. A New England native, Sara lives north of Boston with her family, including a supportive spouse, two brilliantly brained kiddos, and a boisterous boxer dog.
Maggy Krell is a legal trailblazer who has taken on high-impact cases as both a criminal prosecutor and civil practitioner. She has fought for reproductive justice and access to health care as Chief Legal Counsel for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California and also successfully represented migrant families who were forcefully separated and detained during President Trump’s family separation policy. She was a criminal prosecutor for fifteen years, serving as Supervising Deputy Attorney General of the Special Crimes Unit, and cross-designated as a Special Assistant United States Attorney. She prosecuted high-profile cases throughout California, including murder, organized crime, human trafficking, domestic violence, white-collar crime, and mortgage fraud. Her most notable accomplishments stem from her tireless efforts to combat human trafficking and protect and empower crime victims, including her groundbreaking prosecution of the sex-trafficking website Backpage.com. She lives in California with her family.
What is this book about?
For almost a decade, Backpage was the world’s largest sex trafficking operation. Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, in 800 cities throughout the world, Backpage ran thousands of listings advertising the sale of vulnerable young people for sex. Reaping a cut off every transaction, the owners of the website raked in millions of dollars. But many of the people in the advertisements were children, as young as 12, and forced into the commercial sex trade through fear, violence, and coercion.
In Taking Down Backpage, veteran California prosecutor Maggy Krell tells the story of how she and her team prevailed against this sex trafficking monolith. Beginning with her early career as a young DA, she shares the evolution of the anti-human trafficking movement. Through a fascinating combination of memoir and legal insight, Krell reveals how she and her team started with the prosecution of street pimps and ultimately ended with the takedown of the largest purveyor of human trafficking in the world. She shares powerful stories of interviews with victims, sting operations, court cases, and the personal struggles that were necessary to bring Backpage executives to justice. Finally, Krell examines the state of sex trafficking after Backpage and the crucial work that still remains.
