Erika Kirk’s Romanian Angels and the US Military

Background on Erika Kirk - the plastic demon queen & teenage prostitution rings in Romania involving the US military.

Ericka Frantzve, now Kirk, launched Everyday Heroes Like You in 2006, with the "Romanian Angels" program to supposedly aid orphans in Constanța, Romania, with gifts and holiday support. In her 2013 Vimeo video "Romanian Angels," she showcased U.S. soldiers, led by sex-trafficker Col. Otto Busher III from Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base, handing out toys, books, and clothes to orphanage kids in carefully staged visits. Kirk made a point to thank Busher and Asociatia United Hands Romania, the local group managing logistics, for enabling this contrived show of charity. This ties to a June 1, 2017, Children’s Day event, where over 100 orphans received games, food, and gifts, with U.S. soldiers from the Black Sea Rotational Force 17.1 posing as caring helpers alongside Romania’s child protection agency.

In November 2019, Ana Maria Nuciu, a former translator at Mihail Kogălniceanu from 2010 to the mid-2010s, filed a criminal complaint with Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT. She alleged that from 2011 to 2013, a brothel operated in Building P at the base, trafficking girls as young as 16, and possibly younger, from Constanța and Caracal to serve U.S. soldiers and contractors. Nuciu named Col. Otto Busher III, then commander of the Black Sea Area Support Team, and his assistant, Lloyd Sparks, as key figures. She claimed Busher negotiated “services” and Romanian base guards were bribed to allow unregistered civilian vehicles to smuggle girls past checkpoints. Nuciu linked these activities to the 2019 Caracal case, where teens Luiza Melencu and Alexandra Măceșanu vanished near the Deveselu U.S. base, suggesting shared trafficking networks. Her evidence included an audio recording of U.S. contractor Mark Boggs threatening to “run her over,” translated texts of Busher haggling €50–100 for “quickies,” photos of unauthorized base entries, and statements from U.S. civilian employees. She urged DIICOT to merge the “Kogălniceanu File” with the “Caracal-Deveselu File” due to overlapping operations.

In January 2020, Q Magazine reported that DIICOT logged Nuciu’s complaint on January 15 but could not proceed due to the 2001 U.S.-Romania Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which grants the U.S. jurisdiction over its personnel’s crimes, often leading to internal suppression without extradition. On January 23, Cotidianul published Nuciu’s full complaint, revealing Busher’s office, which sits directly across from Nuciu’s, as the operation’s hub, with two U.S. civilians escorting girls past security. A 2014 U.S. investigation by Carl Tenbrink and Nathan Buck confirmed "irregularities" but it was buried under SOFA. On January 26, ActiveNews shared texts offering girls ("16yo for €80/hour”) and Busher’s communications with prostitutes, which someone attempted to delete from base servers. They also highlighted Nuciu’s audio of Boggs’ threats and her initial local police report. The reports framed Romania as Europe’s top sex trafficking source, with NATO bases like Kogălniceanu mirroring scandals in Kosovo and Kuwait. DIICOT closed the case in 2020, citing insufficient Romanian jurisdiction, leaving Busher retired in the U.S. and Sparks unpunished.