How I survived being forced into pornography: ‘I died in that hotel room. I was a walking corpse’

Mariah Rief, now 29, is in London to speak in parliament on behalf of UK Feminista, a campaigning organisation launching a list of recommendations for the government to use its new powers under the Crime and Policing Act to force pornography sites to implement fundamental protections.

These protections would require sites to verify that the people in their content are adults and have consented to its publication, a move Rief says is long overdue given the impunity with which such sites have operated until now.

Rief is one of the few survivors whose case has resulted in criminal convictions, after she was coerced into making a video for the Girls Do Porn (GDP) operation in 2016.

In 2022, Gyi, the cameraman who filmed Rief, was sentenced to four years for helping to coerce hundreds of women to appear in pornographic abuse videos.

Ruben Andre Garcia, the performer who had been waiting for Rief in that hotel room, is now serving 20 years, while the ringleader of the operation, Michael Pratt, is serving 27 years.

Despite the convictions, GDP’s videos and brand were highly successful, with their content watched more than 1 billion times and their videos distributed to major sites like Pornhub.

Rief says that the operation presented itself as a legitimate business, with a polished, professional look that made it difficult for some to believe that trafficked women were involved.

A perfect victim

Rief grew up in Missouri as an adopted child of a deeply religious family. Her biological mother was a drug addict who sold her body to support her addiction, a background that Rief believes made her vulnerable to exploitation.

At 18, she married a marine she barely knew and moved to his military base in San Diego. Within a year, that relationship was over and Rief was sleeping on a friend’s sofa, working as a gym receptionist.

She had found a job and a car, but when she broke down financially and called home for help, her mother advised her to look for a modelling job on Craigslist.

‘You get, “But why did she answer that ad?” “Why did she walk inside?” and, my favourite, “Where were her parents?”’ says Rief.

Rief had been sent to modelling and etiquette classes since she was a child, and to her, California seemed like 1950s Hollywood, a place where a big break was waiting for her.

She responded to a Craigslist ad for a modelling shoot at the Hilton hotel in San Diego. A woman called her within 10 minutes, assuring her that the company was safe, legitimate, and would pay her real money.

Rief trusted the woman and the offer, believing she had finally found an opportunity to improve her life.

The hotel room

When Rief arrived at the Hilton, she was reassured by the hotel’s nice location and the presence of businesspeople, which she believed made it an unlikely place for something bad to happen.

The photographer, Theodore Gyi, was friendly, but as they approached the elevator, he began to shepherd her, blocking her exit.

Just inside the door, she saw the silhouette of a second man, Ruben Andre Garcia, and smelled marijuana.

Rief realised she had no choice. ‘I don’t have a choice. Walking into that room means they are going to get whatever they want and I don’t know what that entails.’

Inside the room, she was met with six studio lights pointing at a bed. Gyi explained that the video would be a “classy, well-made” production for a select group of wealthy men in Australia.

When Rief told Gyi and Garcia that she was on her period, Garcia calmly presented her with a menstrual sponge and taught her how to use it.

The shoot lasted eight hours, during which Rief dissociated, feeling like a walking corpse and following every instruction robotically.

At the end, she was given an envelope stuffed with $4,500 in cash and was allowed to leave, but she was so disoriented that she couldn't remember where she had parked her car.

The aftermath

For about a month, Rief tried to move on with her life, finding a new job at a country club and telling no one about her experience.

Then, at work, she received a Facebook message from a former classmate asking, ‘How much did you get from it?’

Rief knew immediately that her video had been released. GDP’s standard practice was to send screenshots and links to the victim’s friends and family on social media, partly to drive traffic and also to silence them.

The company also bought URLs in the victim’s names, so that anyone Googling them would be directed to a site with the videos and screenshots, creating the impression of a consensual career in the adult industry.

Rief’s phone blew up with messages from friends and family, and she was forced to confront the reality of what had happened to her.

She has since spoken out to help prevent others from falling victim to similar operations and to advocate for stronger regulations on pornography sites.