The Day
Karen Florin
A jury in Danbury Superior Court on Wednesday found businessman Bruce J. Bemer guilty of sex trafficking charges that could land him a prison term of up to 60 years and appears to strengthen the civil lawsuits brought by about a dozen men who claim he victimized them.
Bemer, 65, of Glastonbury was found guilty of four counts of patronizing a trafficked person and one count of accessory to trafficking. Judicial marshals handcuffed him and took him into custody after Judge Robin Pavia increased his bond, which had been set at $500,000 while the case was pending, to $1.25 million. The judge scheduled sentencing for June 6.
In taking the case to trial, Bemer turned down an offer from the state to plead guilty in exchange for a felony conviction and probation but no prison time.
Bemer is the owner of the New London-Waterford Speedbowl, Bemer Petroleum propane supplier, a motorcycle shop, a small airport and other businesses. Over the past week, jurors heard about how he paid hundreds of dollars for sex from mentally ill and drug-addicted men who were recruited by trafficker Robert King and presented to Bemer one after another.
Bemer had a team of attorneys and security staff at the courthouse, and once jury deliberations began, a bail bondsman joined his entourage. He posted the additional $750,000 bond and is expected to eventually appeal his conviction.
Judge Pavia ordered him to remain on GPS monitoring and set a curfew of 7 p.m. Bemer already had surrendered his passport upon his arrest. The judge reminded him he is to have no contact with the victims.
It was the first trafficking trial of its kind in Connecticut, and prosecutor Sharmese Hodge said she was “a little shocked” by the guilty verdicts because the state statute on trafficking is limited. Hodge said it took a lot for the victims to come forward and testify about their experience.
“Justice was done,” Hodge said. “It was obvious that jury worked hard.”
The jury began deliberating Monday afternoon and almost immediately asked for information that would help them match the alleged victims’ “John Doe” numbers, which were used in the state’s charging documents, with their names, which were used in court. On Tuesday, they asked for playback of parts of the men’s testimonies, which took until lunchtime on Wednesday.
Bemer’s attorneys, Anthony Spinella and Ryan Barry, said they did not want to comment at this time.
The victims had testified that Robert King, who has pleaded guilty to trafficking and awaits sentencing, befriended them and took them into his Danbury mobile home. They said King provided them drugs and kept a tab of their indebtedness. They said King drove them in groups to Bemer’s office, hotels or other locations and sent them in to Bemer, one after another, for paid sex. King then took a $50 cut from each man, according to testimony. Bemer preferred young, heterosexual men, according to testimony.
The four men, who suffered from psychiatric conditions and drug addiction, had expressed shame and embarrassment as they told their stories on the witness stand. Two additional victims who were scheduled to testify never made it to the witness stand. Another man provided testimony that was not consistent with his earlier statements.
To prove he was guilty of patronizing trafficked persons, the state had to show that Bemer knew, or should have known, that he was paying for sex from men who had been forced, coerced or defrauded into service. The state also had charged him with being an accessory to the trafficking of the victims.
Danbury police Detective Dan Trompetta, who has since retired, said it was his last case before retirement and that he, too, was a little shocked by the verdict. He had worked the case with FBI Agent Kurt Siuzdak.
Bemer’s legal problems have been damaging to his finances. A civil judge had ordered him to provide to the court a $25 million prejudgment remedy based on the strength of the complaints. The civil attorneys and some of their clients had watched parts of the trial.