Federal sex-slave case opens in Suffolk

A federal prosecutor and defense attorneys clashed Wednesday over the guilt or innocence of three people accused of operating a sex-slave ring out of two Suffolk cantinas.

The ring allegedly ensnared young, undocumented women from Central America by initially promising them work as waitresses in the cantinas, or bars, that catered to working-class immigrants from Central America, federal prosecutors said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Demetri Jones charged the defendants "repeatedly and systematically exploited and abused vulnerable young women for years . . . to generate a stream of money that ended up in the defendants' pockets."

In her opening of the government's case in federal court in Central Islip, Jones said the three created, "A scheme that was designed to instill fear, intimidate and control its victims . . . they felt that they had no choice but to continue working in a place where strangers sexually violated their bodies."

But Terrence Buckley, an attorney for one of the defendants, Jason Villaman, staunchly maintained his client's innocence and suggested that "the women, as sympathetic as they may be, [could be] telling what the government wants to hear so they can stay in the country." Victims of sexual abuse can be placed on an expedited road to citizenship under federal law.

The attorneys for the other two defendants, Antonio Rivera and John Whaley, also asked the jurors to keep an open mind.

Tracey Gaffey, the attorney for Whaley, said her client never harmed any of the women. "He was nice to them and they were nice to him," Gaffey said.

Glenn Obedin, the attorney for Rivera, who the government maintains was the leader of the ring, asked jurors not to jump to any conclusions because the government is only telling you "a version of the story."

The three defendants were all involved in the operation of the two now-defunct cantinas -- Sonidos de La Frontera in Lake Ronkonkoma and La Hija del Mariachi in Farmingville.Jones warned that the victims' testimony about their treatment "will be extremely graphic and sexually explicit."

The first alleged victim, identified only by a first name as Nelci, testified briefly before court ended for the day.

Speaking through an interpreter "Nelci" talked about how she came to the United States with the mother from Honduras when she was 15-years-old because "my mother . . . thought it would be something better for me"and was hired by Rivera supposedly as a waitress when she was 17 years old.

The trial is scheduled to resume Thursday.