Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler has joined with 45 other attorneys general to confront Backpage.com about what they consider unsuccessful efforts to remove advertisements for sex trafficking from the online classifieds website.

In a letter sent Thursday, the attorneys general asked Backpage.com, a hub for adult services advertisements, to voluntarily shut down its escorts section or release information detailing the site’s attempts to remove illegal ads for sex, particularly those that feature minors. The letter was drafted in lieu of a subpoena, and the attorneys general want a response by Sept. 14.

It is the second such letter sent to Backpage, which is owned by Village Voice Media LLC and makes an estimated annual revenue of $22.7 million from adult services ads, according to Advanced Interactive Media Group, a research and consulting group. In 2010, Gansler also signed on to a letter signed by 20 other attorneys general.

Backpage also serves as the online classifieds site for Village Voice Media's 13 weekly newspapers and a number of other publications. It gets more visits than any other adult services website, according to Advanced Interactive Media Group.

Sam Fifer, a Chicago-based attorney representing Backpage, said he was reviewing the letter and diligently preparing a response.

In 2008, 42 attorneys general reached an agreement with Craigslist.com to stop illegal listings, and the website ultimately eliminated its “erotic services” section in May 2009.

In the past, Backpage has argued the ads are protected under the federal Communications Decency Act, which does not hold websites responsible as publishers of ads that are posted by a third party.

The National Association of Attorneys General, which drafted the letter, said the group has found more than 50 instances in 22 states of charges filed against people trafficking minors via the website within the past three years.

“These are only the stories that made it into the news; many more instances may exist,” the letter reads.

In a statement, Gansler said traffickers who exploit runaways and other disadvantaged children shouldn't be provided with a tool that makes “peddling flesh so much easier.”

“Backpage is basically facilitating the supply and demand for child exploitation and prostitution,” Gansler said Thursday. “They’re facilitating crimes and they’re not going to be able to continue to do that. The state has the law on its side. This isn’t a free speech issue, it’s illegal activity.”

In Maryland, several legal cases have stemmed from ads on the website.

In April 2010, three Maryland residents were arrested after they tried to prostitute a 15-year-old Anne Arundel County girl from a Gaithersburg Toys "R" Us parking lot four days after she had been reported missing.

In July, a Wheaton mall security guard pleaded guilty in federal court to pimping a 16-year-old Arlington, Va., girl through the website in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

dgaines@gazette.net