Lazzaro sex trafficking accomplice gets 3 years in prison
A judge on Tuesday sentenced the accomplice of sex trafficker Tony Lazzaro to three years in federal prison.
Gisela Castro Medina, 21, admitted that in 2020 she recruited and groomed five girls to be sex partners for Lazzaro, 32, a former Minnesota Republican Party operative and top donor.
At the time of the crimes, four of the girls were 16 years old and one was 15.
As part of an agreement with prosecutors, Castro Medina pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors and obstruction and spent a full day on the witness stand testifying against Lazzaro at his trial in March. In August, U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz sentenced Lazzaro to 21 years.
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In the same courtroom, Castro Medina read a five-minute statement in which she apologized to her victims.
“Sorry doesn’t begin to make up for what I did,” Castro Medina said. “I do not expect or deserve their forgiveness, but I still apologize to them.”
At one point tearful, Castro Medina said she is “grateful that I was caught,” and thanked the social service agencies that helped her with substance abuse treatment in the time since the grand jury returned its indictment in August 2021.
Unlike Lazzaro, Castro Medina was held in jail for only a short time after her arrest. She spent much of the last two years at home with GPS monitoring. Schiltz ordered Castro Medina to report to prison or surrender to U.S. Marshals on Oct. 10. Castro Medina walked out of the Minneapolis federal courthouse with her attorneys after the sentencing hearing.
In victim impact statements, the parents of one teen, identified in court documents as Victim A, called Castro Medina a narcissist and said her apology was insincere.
“She does what she needs to do to get the results she wants,” the victim’s father said. “She’s manipulative, she lies and I don’t believe anything out of her mouth.”
During Lazzaro’s trial, the judge and attorneys addressed the victims by their first names, but MPR News is not publishing any identifying information in order to protect their privacy.
Prosecutors said previously that Castro Medina and Victim A were friends before meeting Lazzaro, and the two connected with him after they each set up profiles on a “sugar daddy” dating website that connects young women with older, typically wealthy men.
During their first visit to Lazzaro’s condo in the Hotel Ivy in downtown Minneapolis, Lazzaro had sex with Castro Medina and Victim A, “and paid them in hundred dollar bills,” prosecutors wrote in a filing.
Standing at the courtroom’s lectern, Victim A’s mother turned toward Castro Medina and castigated her for manipulating the friendship for financial gain.
“You used her, and she became your puppet,” Victim A’s mother said. “We invited you for Christmas dinner. You received presents that we paid for, and you have the audacity to do this to my daughter, to my family.”
The victim’s mother said her daughter continues to suffer from depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder and has a fear of trusting both men and women.
“Your soul is as dark as your eyes, and I despise you,” Victim A’s mother said just before asking Schiltz to give Castro Medina the maximum sentence allowed under federal law.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Melinda Williams said that while Lazzaro has “no redeeming qualities,” Castro Medina worked closely with the prosecution team and was “as good as a cooperator as I’ve ever encountered.”
Williams, who requested a seven-year prison term for Castro Medina, noted that determining a just sentence for someone who “began as a victim and turned around and revisits that victimization on others” is an unenviable task. But Williams said that “the pain that was caused is so profound that a substantial prison sentence is necessary.”
Defense attorney Elizabeth Duel argued for a sentence of time served and supervised release. Duel noted that Castro Medina suffered physical abuse and neglect as a child and saw Lazzaro as “a mix of the father she never had and a best friend.”
Duel also noted that her client has received substance abuse and mental health treatment, is two years sober, received an associate’s degree with honors while on supervised release, and has been advocating for victims of sex trafficking.
“She does not blame anyone but herself for being here today,” Duel said. “She’s done everything she can to atone for her actions in this case. The interests of justice and purposes of sentencing are far better served by keeping Ms. Castro Medina moving along her path towards education, work and advocacy.”
Schiltz said that a sentence of time served is inadequate but that his downward variance from federal sentencing guidelines is not meant to diminish the seriousness of Castro Medina’s crimes.
“The sex trafficking statute covers a huge spectrum of behaviors, and this case does not involve the kind of aggravating factors that warrant the most severe of sentences,” Schiltz said.
Schiltz said that while Castro Medina helped Lazzaro “every step of the way” in committing his crimes, there were “significant mitigating factors,” including that Castro Medina “was herself a victim” of Lazzaro.
“Recognizing a ‘broken girl’ when he saw one, Mr. Lazzaro skillfully groomed Ms. Castro Medina to recruit for him, just as he skillfully groomed his victims to have sex with him.”
Schiltz also said that neglect and abuse Castro Medina suffered as a child made her an ideal target for Lazzaro.
“By the time Ms. Castro Medina met Mr. Lazzaro, she was suffering from PTSD, depression, and anxiety, and she’d been hospitalized after attempting to take her own life. She was very vulnerable to a predator such as Mr. Lazzaro.”