Two men arrested in connection with Danbury human trafficking ring

Westport resident William Trefzger was charged with patronizing a trafficked person. Westport resident William Trefzger was charged with patronizing a trafficked person. Photo: / Danbury Police Department Photo: / Danbury Police Department Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Two men arrested in connection with Danbury human trafficking ring 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

DANBURY - A prostitution ring that exploited young men with mental disabilities for more than 20 years unraveled this week when police arrested two men authorities say were clients of the operation.

William Trefzger, a previously convicted sex offender from Westport, and Bruce J. Bemer of Glastonbury, the owner of the Waterford Speedbowl and New England Motor Sports, were both charged Wednesday with patronizing a trafficked person.

Authorities said Danbury resident Robert King, who had been arrested earlier, was at the center of the ring, which served as many as eight wealthy men in Connecticut and Massachusetts. King would befriend troubled young men, including one he found prowling through a Dumpster, get them hooked on drugs including cocaine and heroin and, when they had run up debts, pushed them into prostituting themselves, arrest affidavits show.

Police said the ring had been under investigation since January 2016, but Bemer told them King had been sending him young men for more than 20 years. King has been charged with second-degree prostitution and tampering with a witness. Bemer declined to comment Thursday after he was released from custody at Superior Court in Danbury.

At least 15 young men in their early 20s with illnesses including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder were exploited as part of the scheme, court records state. Some of the victims had severe disabilities and were living in group homes.

King sometimes drove the young men to his clients, who typically paid $250 for sex, of which King took $50, the affidavits said. Clients also came to his mobile home on Miry Brook Road near the Danbury Fair Mall.

Several neighbors at the mobile home park said King had a “nasty temper” and would often have groups of teenage boys hanging out around his house and running up and down the street. Some of the youths appeared to be high on drugs, neighbors said.

”One of the kids was running around like he was pretending to be a bird,” said one neighbor who declined to be identified by name. "Needless to say, we’re happy (King’s) gone.”

Another neighbor, who also declined to be identified, said he and others would often call the police to complain about loud music coming from King’s trailer in the middle of the night.

”There was a lot of young people coming and going," the neighbor said. ”Bob was really bizarre. We’re happy to be rid of him.”

A woman who answered the door at King’s home declined to comment.

One of the young men victimized by King told police he met the older man while he was looking for bottles in a Dumpster. King offered to pay him to cut his grass, the man said, and the two began doing drugs together at King’s home, court documents state.

A short time later, King introduced the victim to Bemer, who showed the young man his collection of antique cars and motorcycles, according to court records.

“He asked for a ride in his helicopter, but it never happened,” the affidavit states.

The investigation got its start when health-care workers at Bethel-based Ability Beyond, which operates a group home where two of the victims lived, told a probation officer that King about the prostitution ring, records show.

Investigators approached King in August 2016. He admitted to Danbury detectives that he knew the young men but said he “only brought the boys to the clients,” according to one affidavit.

“I’m just a gay guy trying to help people,” he said, according to the warrant, before asking for his attorney.

Police also interviewed one of the victims, who days later recorded a conversation he had with King, the warrant states:

“What if they ask me about the...,” the victim asked.

“The prostitution?” King replied. Say you don’t know anything about it.”

King later told the victim to tell investigators they there were longtime friends and that he knew nothing about prostitution, the affidavit states.

When approached by police, Trefzger at first denied involvement in prostitution, but later admitted to having sex with boys King delivered to his home, records show. He also admitted knowing that the young men had mental health problems.

Trefzger also admitted to police that he had been convicted in the past of sexual assault for an incident involving “a young Chinese boy." He pleaded guilty in July 2010 to fourth-degree sexual assault and was sentenced to a six-month suspended prison sentence and 18 months of probation.

No one answered the door at an address listed as owned by Trefzger in the Greens Farms area of Westport Thursday. The house, set back from the road between Hillspoint Road and Sherwood Island Connector off Greens Farms Road, had a blue Honda Accord parked in the driveway.

An American flag flew at the house and the front door was adorned with several bumper stickers, one picturing a Confederate Flag and another a symbol of the Third Reich.

Trefzger is being held on a $250,000 bond. Bemer was released Thursday on a $500,000 bond. King is being held in custody on a $200,000 bond.

dperrefort@newstimes.com