What alleged trafficking cover-up by top Asheville police official means to victims
ASHEVILLE - Stories like the one unfolding around a sex-trafficking ring in Fairfax, Virginia, involving alleged involvement by police including a cover-up effort by current Asheville police Deputy Chief James Baumstark, are disappointing to victims, according to advocates.
A year after the first complaint in “Doe v. Fairfax Police Officer #1 et al” was filed on Oct. 12, 2021, Baumstark and two former Fairfax police officers Michael O. Barbazette and Jason J. Mardocco, will likely appear in court in Virginia come Jan. 10, when a judge ordered jury selection in the case to begin.
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Barbazette and Mardocco are accused by Jane Doe (a pseudonym) — who was lured into a Virginia sex trafficking ring in 2010 and alleges she was abused by members of the Fairfax police — of participating in and protecting the sex-trafficking ring. Baumstark, who was a captain in Fairfax during part of his 26 years there, is accused of trying to cover it up when an investigator started asking questions in 2014 or 2015, according to Doe's complaint.
Baumstark left Fairfax in 2015 and joined the Asheville force in November that year under former Asheville Police Chief Tammy Hooper, who also joined the city in July 2015 and had served in law enforcement in the same Virginia metropolitan area as Baumstark.
“When news stories like this come out, it does have a chilling effect, or it validates folks that decided not to come forward,” Rita Sneider-Cotter said in an Oct. 12 interview.
Sneider-Cotter is the executive director of Our Voice, the nonprofit sexual assault crisis center based in Asheville. It serves survivors of sexual violence in Buncombe County, and human trafficking survivors in Buncombe, Henderson, Madison, McDowell, Yancey, and Transylvania counties.
The organization also works with the Asheville Police Department to help victims and train law enforcement on how to respond to incidents of sexual violence.
“Our primary goal is to provide survivor-centered services to the entire community. To achieve this goal, we work together with the Asheville Police Department to support survivors of human trafficking who choose to report to law enforcement,” the organization said in a release put out when news of the Virginia lawsuit first broke.
“Our VOICE has recently been able to provide training for all APD officers and looks forward to continuing with this collaboration. We have been strengthening this work through the Buncombe County Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition, which APD is a part of. We are here to support survivors whether they choose to report to law enforcement or not and will continue to work to make the system better for all who wish to access it.”
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Though neither the organization nor Sneider-Cotter commented on the specifics of the lawsuit involving Baumstark, both acknowledged how news of a broken justice system affects those who depend on it to protect them.
“Our VOICE stands with survivors of human trafficking who have gone unheard and unsupported by the criminal justice system, and we understand that news of the lawsuit filed against Deputy Chief Baumstark demonstrates why survivors may not feel safe reporting to law enforcement,” the organization said in a statement.
'Powerful systems working to uphold harm against vulnerable folks'
Sneider-Cotter explained further Oct. 12.
“When we work with survivors to talk about the civil versus criminal, we know that the criminal system has a much higher threshold: Beyond a reasonable doubt is much higher than that 51% that civil court holds for being able to prove whether something happened or not,” she said.
“And so we know that a lot of survivors end up in civil court as a result, but civil court really only works if the person who's harmed has a lot of money or power. And so when we see stories about powerful systems working to uphold harm against vulnerable folks, then we know that folks who are experiencing harm, especially those that are marginalized, are much less likely to trust that the system is going to protect them, and much less likely to take that courageous step of coming forward and reporting. Because they don't believe that the system is designed for them.”
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Between July 2021 and June 2022, 11,933 clients in the state received in-person or remotely received services related to sexual assault, according to data from programs funded by the North Carolina Department of Administration’s Council for Women & Youth Involvement.
Nationwide, an American is currently sexually assaulted about every 68 seconds, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.
Of those clients, 79% were women, 13% were men and another 8% were of unknown gender. A majority of those who received services related to sexual assault were between the ages of 25-59, according to the data.
The offender in 25% percent of cases was a relative, in 23% of cases undisclosed, and in another 23% an acquaintance.
More than 5,800 cases involved court services.
According to other RAINN data, 310 out of every 1,000 sexual assaults are reported to the police and only 50 reports out of 1,000 led to arrests. Only 25 perpetrators out of 1,000 will be incarcerated.
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Asheville police officials including spokespeople, Chief David Zack and Baumstark himself have not responded to recent requests for comment on the case, including the question, “Is it appropriate to have Deputy Chief Baumstark in this role while he faces cover-up allegations in civil court?”
Zack in January told the Citizen Times, "I can't speak for something that happened years ago that I have no knowledge of."
Need help?
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted and needs help or resources, contact:
Our Voice: (For ages 13 and older) 828-255-7576, www.ourvoicenc.org.
Mountain Child Advocacy Center: (For ages 17 and younger), 828-213-9824, https://mtncac.org.
RAINN: (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) 800-656-4673, www.rainn.org.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: How the Baumstark Virginia sex trafficking case impacts victims
