Bombshell reports and a disturbing lawsuit allege that Fairfax County Police — including a former Chief Ed Roessler — shielded a sex trafficking ring in exchange for free sexual favors.
Roessler is also accused of burying evidence when a Fairfax detective’s work threatened to expose him and the other defendants.
Warning: the accusations are disturbing.
As NBC Washington reports:
The suit was filed on behalf of a Costa Rican woman identified in the lawsuit only as “Jane Doe.” It says the officers would tip off the trafficking ring to suspend its online advertisements in advance of sting operations run by police.
Victor Glasberg, the lawyer who filed the suit on the Costa Rican woman’s behalf, said in an interview police have essentially corroborated elements of the woman’s allegations by providing him the names of the officers involved in the alleged misconduct.
When Glasberg first filed the lawsuit in October, he did not know the identities of the officers who were allegedly involved, because his client was never able to learn their names. But he obtained a court order requiring the police department to identify the officers described in the complaint.
Police responded with two names: Michael O. Barbazette of Manassas and Jason J. Mardocco of Gainesville. Neither officer remains on the force.