Danbury Sex Traffic Trial: Defense Questions Witness Credibility

DANBURY, CT — The defense team went on the attack as the Danbury sex trafficking trial went into its fourth day on Thursday, the News-Times is reporting.

Lawyers defending Glastonbury millionaire businessman Bruce Bemer argued that a new witness had given at least 19 answers in court that were different than a videotaped interview with the FBI in 2017.

Bemer, 65, is the owner of several businesses across the state, most notably the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. He faces seven felony charges of patronizing a prostitute and one count of accessory to trafficking.

Bemer's lead attorney Anthony Spinella also called the FBI to the stand, in the form of Kurt Siuzdak, who supervises the FBI’s trafficking unit in New Haven. Siuzdak led the investigation which led to Bemer's arrest, as well as the arrests of Robert King, of Danbury, who masterminded the trafficking ring, and William Trefzger, of Westport, another of the ring's clients.

Spinella challenged Siuzdak's the FBI was treating his client's case differently from the way it handled sex trafficking cases that involved women. Siuzdak contended that the statistics around male cases merited the special attention, citing that trafficked men have a 40 percent suicide rate.

For more, see the News-Times.