Danbury Sex Traffic Ringleader Sentenced

DANBURY, CT — The leader of a Danbury-based human trafficking ring has been sentenced to 4-and-a-half years in prison, the Hartford Courant is reporting.

Robert King, 53, of Danbury, who pleaded guilty last August to conspiracy to commit human trafficking, was sentenced on Wednesday.

King was arrested two years ago along with two clients following an investigation by local and federal authorities. He was accused of targeting men in their 20s with mental heath problems, befriending them, offering them drugs, and then selling them into prostitution to pay off their drug debts.

Bruce Bemer, a Glastonbury businessman and owner of the New London-Waterford Speedbowl racetrack, was sentenced to ten years in prison on Monday after he was found guilty of patronizing a trafficked person and on criminal liability of trafficking a person. He remains free pending an appeal.