‘It was me or my little sister.’ Alleged sex trafficking victim tells her story in court
An alleged victim in a Stanislaus County sex trafficking case testified in court that she was forced into prostitution because she was told, “It was me or my little sister.”
Stockton resident Gabriel Gomez, 22, is charged with human trafficking of a minor for a sex act related to an eight-day period that ended Dec. 20, 2016, when Modesto police officers found the then 16-year-old girl at the Motel 6 on West Orangeburg Avenue.
“She appeared fearful, surprised to see me, and she had tears in her eyes,” Officer Taylor Aja testified during Gomez’s preliminary hearing Tuesday.
He and two other officers responded to the motel after a relative of the girl, referred to as Jane Doe in court, called police to report she was there. Jane Doe had messaged the relative on Facebook.
Aja testified that Jane Doe was hesitant to talk, but “she eventually told me she had been unwillingly forced into sex with different men.”
“She said she slept with 50 people in eight days,” the officer testified. They started at motels in Stockton and ended in Modesto.
Jane Doe testified that Gomez gave her biological mother money, essentially buying her from the mother. She said that if it wasn’t her, her mother would have sold her 2-year-old sister.
When Gomez’s defense attorney, Gilbert Somera, asked her how she knew this, she said her mother bragged about it to others in their small town in Northern California. Somera asked Jane Doe if she had ever seen Gomez at her mother’s home. She said no, but she had seen text messages exchanged between the two of them.
Jane Doe said she met Gomez and his girlfriend through mutual friends, when she was in Stockton a few months before.
She testified that in December, she took a bus to Stockton, and when she got there, Gomez took her phone and gave her a flip phone to communicate with him.
She said Gomez posted ads for her on Backpage, an advertising website that was used primarily for selling sex until it was seized by federal law enforcement agencies in 2018.
She said Gomez would arrange for her to have sex with men and wait in his car in the parking lot, calling or texting her when a man was on his way to the room.
She was instructed to take the money and put it under a plastic garbage bag in the trash can, she said. He would periodically go to the room to take the money, she testified.
Jane Doe said she had to perform sex acts until she earned at least $1,000 each night, and she never received any of the money.
She testified that others were involved in the operation, including Gomez’s girlfriend and at least one other man who collected the money. Only Gomez has been charged.
During cross-examination, Somera questioned Jane Doe about the role of Gomez’s girlfriend.
Jane Doe said it was the girlfriend who initially contacted her on Instagram and threatened her in regards to her 2-year-old sister. She also said the hotel rooms were always booked by the girlfriend.
Jane Doe said she was afraid of both Gomez and his girlfriend.
Somera asked her if Gomez or his girlfriend ever pushed, hit or threatened her. She said no; her obedience was always derived out of fear for the safety of her sister.
A warrant for Gomez’s arrest was issued not long after Jane Doe was found at the motel. His attorney said he twice surrendered him to police in 2018 and in January, but Gomez wasn’t charged until his arrest in October.
Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Ricardo Cordova at the end of the hearing determined there was sufficient evidence for Gomez to stand trial on the charges. Gomez is scheduled to return to court in January for an arraignment hearing.
This story was originally published December 23, 2019 at 9:30 AM.
