Jane Doe speaks up on Thursday when her lawyer asked her a question during a civil trial against four former members of the Fairfax County Police Department: Edwin Roessler, James Baumstark, Michael Barbazette, and Jason Mardocco.
Her voice cracked as she described how she suffered at the hands of clients in the prostitution ring. Eventually, she broke down and sobbed uncontrollably.
The trial focused on allegations that the former police chief and the three officers were clients of the prostitution ring and that they served as its protectors by giving Hazel Sanchez leads to the head of the enterprise when undercover police would be in the area.
Ed Roessler, the former chief, and the other three officers all deny the allegations, though two former officers, Michael Barbazette and Jason Mardocco, admitted they were clients of Sanchez and resigned after their phone numbers were found on Sanchez’s phone.
The jury has heard testimony from Doe and another woman who says she was trafficked. Both identified all four officers they had seen in the various hotels and apartments in northern Virginia where Sanchez would set up shop.
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While there is strong evidence that Doe and the women in Sanchez’s operation suffered horribly, jurors face the much tougher question of whether the four officers support Doe’s trafficking.
Doe said Thursday, “They are with the force of the law. They’re here to protect us,” after she regained her composure during the trial.
The lawyer for Roessler and Baumstark, Kim Baucom called the allegations against them “preposterous” and “made up out of whole cloth.”
Roessler retired as chief of Fairfax County, in January 2021 — years after the collapse of Sanchez’s ring and before Doe’s lawsuit was filed. There is no indication that the allegations have to do with his decision to retire.
Defense lawyers have cited evidence saying that Doe was not a trafficking victim but a willing prostitute. Doe admitted that she was willing to have sex for money. But Doe said Sanchez’s recruiter told her that she would primarily be doing nanny work and housekeeping in the U.S., and she would go on dates with wealthy clients and choose whether to have sex with them, she said.
Both Doe and the other woman who testified were also questioned comprehensively on why they returned to work for Sanchez.
The trial is ongoing and the lawyers of the four officers have not yet presented their case.
