This Wednesday, the trial against four people for participating in a sex trafficking network with underage women brought from Mexico to Queens begins in the Eastern District Court in New York, based in Brooklyn.
Luz Elvira Cardona, Roberto César Cid Domínguez, Cristian Noe Godínez, Blanca Hernández Morales, José Facundo Zárate Morales and Wayne Peiffer, a Village of Brewster police officer, face 14 charges including conspiracy to transport minors, sex trafficking, extortion and prostitution .
However, the trial is against Luz Cardona, Roberto Domínguez, Blanca Morales and José Zárate Morales, since Godínez escaped and Officer Peiffer pleaded guilty.
There is a list of 22 witnesses that includes several of the victims, who will be identified in federal court only by their names, according to court documents.
Among the names of the victims are Briselda, Ivonne, Placida and Dalia.
The process will begin with the presentation of the case by prosecutors Lauren H. Elbert, Gillian Kassner and Rachel A. Shanies, and then give way to the defense’s message.
One of the witnesses on the list is Officer Peiffer, who also faces nine charges of the 14 levied against the group.
“Luz Cardona, Roberto Domínguez, Blanca Morales and José Zárate Morales, all related to each other, are alleged members of a Queens-based sex trafficking organization that used force, threats, fraud and coercion to cause young women and minor girls to of age from Mexico will engage in prostitution in the United States, specifically in New York and Connecticut,” the court report indicates.
The criminal organization had the protection of a Village of Brewster police officer, Peiffer, the report states. The police officer pleaded guilty.
The case is being heard by Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall.
Although Godínez also faces accusations, the subject is a fugitive, according to the latest reports.
Part of the modus operandi of the accused is to offer “a better life” to young women, who were then forced into prostitution.
The Rosa Mexicana restaurant, in Queens, is one of the places located as part of the criminal operation and will be shown at the trial.
Officer Peiffer protected the criminal network’s operation in exchange for free sexual services, as he had the organization send him women at different locations, including the Brewster police station.
The investigation lasted several years, in which the FBI was involved.