KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ A 34-year-old Raymore man pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges stemming from a long-running scheme to dupe women into having sex.
Mario Ambrose Antoine pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Kansas City to one count of wire fraud. Attorneys will jointly recommend a prison sentence of 10 years as part of the plea agreement.
He was charged last October in the case in which he was accused of victimizing six women since 2011.
But federal prosecutors said that they believed there were more victims.
Sentencing was scheduled for Sept. 13.
According to court documents filed by prosecutors:
Antoine convinced the women that he managed several overseas pornography websites, and created online aliases, promoting himself as a talent manager, photographer or videographer.
He claimed to work for fictitious companies with names like Playboy Worldwide, Playboy Asia and Dash Agency.
Under the guise of auditioning women for jobs with his companies, Antoine convinced them to engage in sexual and pornographic activity, according to prosecutors.
Antoine took steps to make his business seem legitimate by forging and falsifying documents, according to prosecutors.
Women were first contacted on Facebook by someone who identified themselves as "Nikki."
They would be complimented on their looks and asked if they were interested in modeling. Nikki would bring up adult modeling and tell the women they could make tens of thousands of dollars posing for pictures and videos that would only be available on private websites in other countries.
Interested women were instructed to go to a house in Raymore where the videotaped sexual activity would occur.
When some of the women complained about not being paid, Antoine allegedly sent sexually explicit images of them to their employers and people they knew.
One victim who complained about not being paid said she was told by Antoine that she could either have sex with him or pay him $9,000 to not have their previously recorded videos made public.
The woman went to his home and had sex, according to the allegations.
When another woman contacted him because she hadn't been paid, Antoine allegedly sent the nude pictures of her to her employer.
Antoine previously operated a wedding photography business and was prosecuted by the Missouri Attorney General's Office on charges of stealing by deceit and unlawful merchandising practices.
He was convicted in September 2013 and placed on probation. His probation was revoked in December 2015, and he was released from prison in September 2016, according to prosecutors.
