I-Team: Former employees describe 'selling sex' at Youngsville call center

YOUNGSVILLE, North Carolina (WTVD) -- The ABC11 I-Team is exposing new details about the money and personal data that flowed through a Youngsville company said to operate an international adult entertainment services website called Eros Guide.

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"The party line was that we were just the publisher and we didn't own the content," one former employee told ABC11, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But everyone there knew we were selling sex."

The I-Team has been speaking daily with former employees, industry insiders and federal officials since a team of agents from Homeland Security Investigations raided Bolma Star Services at 51 Flex Way in Youngsville on November 7.

At the time, investigators told ABC11 they were investigating "illicit activity," but several sources connected the dots between Bolma, Eros Guide, and other shell companies including BBH Media, Marketing Adventure Media, and Darkside Productions.

Greg Huling, the man listed as CEO of Bolma Star Services on state records, abruptly hung up when the I-Team reached him by phone.

The former employees contacted by ABC11 said they worked with Huling on the Eros Guide, some as early as 2004. They describe an intense, strict but lucrative business that reached all major American cities and the United Kingdom.

"There was the (customer-service relations) team that manned the phones and emails waiting for clients (escorts) to contact us for an ad," one former employee wrote in an email to ABC11. "They would receive the information, text, pictures and payment information. They would check IDs to make sure no one was underage as well. They would also scrub said text for any illegal verbiage like stating sex for money or other services. We had a list just like this of things they could not advertise."

Another employee said there was a glossary of flagged terms two-inches thick.

"There was one client that paid $10,000 a month," another former employee said. "And there were thousands more like them. Sometimes we changed the text for them, even though we technically weren't supposed to."

While not confirming the exact nature of this investigation, federal officials said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is often assigned to cases involving money laundering, trafficking, and cyber-sex crimes (prostitution and solicitation are generally state crimes instead of federal).

In addition to being a call center, DHS officials confirmed to the ABC11 I-Team that Bolma Star Services engages in "data farm" activities, hosting several computer servers storing files belonging to other entities, both personal and professional. Video from the raid showed HSI teams seizing several computers, servers and hard drives.

The former employees expressed confidence those servers contained personal information of clients, including names, credit card numbers, pictures and other personal data, validating the fears expressed by several industry insiders.

"It was one thing to talk with an individual, but it was totally different when you were basically talking to a pimp," a former employee told ABC11. "I felt like I was perpetrating the sale of human flesh."

No charges have been filed and no one has been arrested. The U.S. Attorney's Office said the case against Bolma Star Services remains sealed in federal court and is still under "active investigation."

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