Marino ended up carjacking vehicles from two different women in and leading police on a chase that left him dead at just 26 years old. The pain of not being able to help my son Sam when he was going through this is insurmountable.
Police said they identified at least 15 victims of the Connecticut trafficking ring but believe there could be dozens more. The operation appeared to date to the s and was discovered only after a state probation officer reported it to authorities in January , police said. One of the victims had told the probation officer about being trafficked, officials said. Two men have pleaded guilty to trafficking-related charges and a third is expected to go on trial early next year.
The case has illuminated what victims and advocates call the underreported scourge of male sex trafficking.
While both male and female trafficking victims suffer trauma and other psychological scars, data suggest men and boys are less likely to come forward and when they do they are more likely to have difficulties finding counselling and other services, victims and advocates say. The suspects targeted teenage boys and young men who were developmentally disabled, mentally ill and addicted to drugs, police said.
One of the defendants, Robert King, found some of his victims at drug rehab centres. He would allegedly give them drugs, including heroin and cocaine, and take them to other men for sex acts so they could earn money to pay him back for the drugs, according to arrest warrants. A third defendant, William Trefzger, 74, of Westport, pleaded guilty in February to patronizing a trafficked person and was sentenced to a year in prison.
