Jury meets in human trafficking case

WORCESTER - Jury deliberations began Thursday in the trial of two men with alleged gang ties who are charged with human trafficking for sexual servitude and deriving support from the earnings of a prostitute.

Angelo Gonzalez, 36, of Worcester and Robert L. Nieves, 25, of Southbridge are each facing five counts of human trafficking and five counts of deriving support from prostitution, crimes allegedly committed between Sept. 1, 2015, and May 31, 2016.

The 12-member jury deliberated for about an hour and 20 minutes Thursday afternoon in Worcester Superior Court without reaching verdicts. Deliberations were scheduled to resume Friday morning.

Prosecutors contend Mr. Gonzalez and Mr. Nieves, who have pleaded not guilty, were joint venturers in a human trafficking operation allegedly run by Mr. Gonzalez's brother, Elvin Giovanni Gonzalez, in which drug-addicted women were put up in area hotels and engaged in sex acts for money after ads were placed on Backpage or Craigslist.

The prosecution maintains the proceeds from the commercial sexual activity ended up in the hands of Elvin Gonzalez and that the women were given small quantities of drugs in exchange for their services.

Angelo Gonzalez and Mr. Nieves are alleged to have supplied crack cocaine that was given to the women at various times. Mr. Gonzalez is also accused of renting one of the hotel rooms used and of giving a ride to one of the women for a "date."

Prosecutors allege the Gonzalez brothers and Mr. Nieves are affiliated with the Kilby Street Gang based in Worcester.

A 23-year-old woman testified under a grant of immunity Thursday that she and her mother, who were both addicted to heroin, worked for Elvin Gonzalez "doing dates" at area hotels and elsewhere for a period of time. Initially, she said, she received enough drugs to satisfy her addiction, but that later, the quantity of drugs decreased and she ended up "getting sick."

She said this required her to perform more commercial sex acts in order to get more drugs and that she eventually left the employ of Elvin Gonzalez, who is awaiting trial on charges of human trafficking and deriving support from a prostitute.

The woman said she is now clean and in a methadone maintenance program.

Mr. Gonzalez and Mr. Nieves did not testify and no other defense witnesses were called to the stand.

The jury of seven men and five women began its deliberations just after 3 p.m. Thursday, after hearing closing arguments by the lawyers and Judge David Ricciardone's instructions on the law, and were excused for the day shortly before 4:30 p.m. The jurors were to resume their deliberations Friday morning.

In their closing arguments, Mr. Gonzalez's lawyer, Neil N. Colicchio, and Mr. Nieves' lawyer, John P. Garrity, attacked the credibility of two prosecution witnesses, who were also charged in the case and who testified under cooperation agreements, implicating the two defendants.

The defense lawyers noted that all of the charges against one of the cooperating witnesses, Victoria Power, were to be dismissed and that the other, Bradley Alberini, is expected to receive a prison sentence of 2 to 4 years in exchange for his cooperation.

"They've got a motive to tell you something," Mr. Colicchio told the jurors before asking them to find his client not guilty.

Mr. Garrity accused the prosecution of throwing mud up against the wall and hoping some of it would stick. He suggested Mr. Nieves and Mr. Gonzalez were targeted because of their alleged involvement with the Kilby gang.

"This is a Kilby operation," Assistant District Attorney Timothy A. Westerman countered in his final summation.

"These two are not guilty because they directly trafficked women, they're guilty because they benefited from a human trafficking operation," the prosecutor said.