Volunteer fire captain commits suicide after being charged with keeping a young boy as a SEX SLAVE with his firefighter friend for ten years

A volunteer fire captain from Connecticut has been found dead in Vermont in an apparent suicide after being charged with sexually abusing a young boy for about a decade.

Vermont state police say 39-year-old Frank Meyer, of West Haven, Connecticut, was found dead Tuesday afternoon in Newfane. An autopsy is planned Wednesday.

Meyer and 42-year-old Brett Bartolotta of Cavendish, Vermont, were charged last week with aggravated sexual assault and slave trafficking. Both men pleaded not guilty, and Meyer has been out on bail.



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Heavy burden: Frank Meyer, 39, a 911 dispatcher from Connecticut, has committed suicide less than a week after being charged with keeping a teenager as a sex slave for a decade

Suspected accomplice: Ex-volunteer firefighter Brett Bartolotta, 42, was arrested along with Meyer last week and charged with aggravated sexual assault and slave trafficking

Authorities say the men bribed a teenager with money and gifts to perform sex acts at locations in Vermont over a period of several years beginning when the boy was 12 years old more than a decade ago, the Hartford Courant reported. The alleged victim is now 25.

Meyer was suspended from his job as a 911 dispatcher in West Haven last week because of the allegations.

At around 3.30pm Tuesday, police got a call about a possible suicide on South Wardsboro Road in Newfane, Vermont.

Troopers who responded to the scene discovered the body of a man, who was later identified as Meyer. No further details were available about the suicide.

The 911 dispatcher and his alleged accomplice, a former West Haven volunteer firefighter, were taken into custody in a sting operation on February 27. Earlier that day, Meyer was suspended from his job with pay.

According to court documents cited by NBC News , the suspects' alleged victim told police how as a teenager, he was subtly lured into a sexual relationship with two older men, which involved hundreds of encounters over the span of about 10 years.

The 25-year-old accuser stated that he was at times joined by other young people, including a female, and some of the trysts featured bondage and sex toys.

The accuser told police that during some of the sexual encounters, he was wrapped in cellophane and hung by ropes from the ceiling.

Meyer worked as a 911 dispatcher for West Haven since 1999. He also was a captain with the Center Fire District and an adviser to the volunteer department's Explorer Post, a program for young people, according to Fire Chief James O'Brien.

Investigators say the case goes back to 2001, when Bartolotta and Meyer first met the accuser, who was 12 years old at the time.

The two suspects allegedly bribed the boy with money and gifts, including a dirt bike and a hunting bow, in return for sexual favors.

The teen first met Bartolotta at a friend's house. Court documents state that the man approached the boy to join his dirt bike racing team.

Soon after, Bartolotta offered to sell the boy a dirt bike, offering to pay off the purchase with installments, documents state.



Remote location: Meyer's body was discovered inside a house on South Wardsboro Road in rural Newfane, Vermont

The relationship between the firefighter and the 12-year-old turned sexual after alleged victim failed to make a payment on the bike.

According to court papers, the suspect made an arrangement in which he would pay the teenager for sex acts so that he would have money to pay off the bike. About two weeks after the teen's debt was settled, his bike was stolen.

A year into the illicit affair, Bartalotta introduced his underage paramour to Meyer. The men would have sex with the boy on Friday nights in different locations around Vermont.

Bartolotta, who at some point got married, allegedly brought the boy to his house while his wife was at work, according to court documents.

Later, Meyer began bringing in other teens from Connecticut to take part in the trysts, and on one occasion, he asked the alleged victim to perform a sexual act on a 17-year-old boy, but the teen refused.

Police said Meyer asked the adolescent to make himself look more boyish and offered to buy him a new hunting bow in exchange or sex.

The two alleged predators were arrested last Wednesday after the 25-year-old victim met with Meyer while wearing a wire, and recorded a conversation with in which the dispatcher acknowledged knowing the victim since age 12 and made references to sexual acts.

When police took Bartolotta into custody, the man admitted to a minor sexual relationship with the victim, but later said their the liaison was more serious and involved sex toys and bondage.



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