SOMERVILLE, N.J. – Three people have been sentenced to prison for their role in the abuse and sex trafficking of a young New Jersey child.
According to Somerset County Acting Prosecutor Annmarie Taggart, Marina Volz (aka Matthew Volz, age 32), Ashley Romero (aka Adam Romero, age 28), Sean Allen (age 54) and Dulcinea Gnecco (age 21) to a combined sixty-seven years in prison stemming from their roles in the human trafficking and repeated sexual assault of Defendant Marina Volz’s seven-year-old child.
Police said the criminal investigation into the defendants’ conduct began in January 2019 when an anonymous caller contacted the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency (NJ DCP&P) Child Abuse Hotline and reported suspected abuse to a young child residing in the defendants’ Coburn Lane, Franklin Township home.
“On the night that the anonymous call was made, NJ DCP&P personnel and Franklin Township Police Department officers responded to the defendants’ residence and began an investigation which ultimately resulted in the child being removed from the home,” Prosecutor Taggart said. “The following day, detectives from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit interviewed the victim, and thereafter obtained and executed a search warrant upon the defendants’ residence.”
During the investigation, detectives found the situation was much darker and sinister than it first appeared from the initial report.
According to court records, evidence seized during the search warrant execution, including more than 30 computers, cameras and digital storage devices, the ensuing investigation revealed that defendants Volz, Romero and Allen operated what defendants described as a “family-owned transgender pornography production studio specializing in amateur, BDSM and taboo fetish content” from the residence.
“The investigation established that in December 2018, defendant Volz traveled to the West Coast to assume custody of her biological seven-year-old female child and bring the child back to New Jersey with the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with the child,” police said of the truly deplorable intent. “Defendants Romero and Allen assisted Volz in bringing the child to New Jersey to be sexually assaulted and filmed. Once in New Jersey, defendants Romero and Allen jointly sexually assaulted the child and filmed the assault, the video of which was recovered from multiple electronic items within the home.”
Police said the search of the electronic devices revealed multiple text messages and other electronic communications between defendants Volz, Romero, Allen and third parties discussing the sexual assault of the child. Police also recovered firearms, a high-capacity ammunition magazine, and cocaine from the defendants’ residence.
On May 29, 2019, police arrested the defendants, and the State successfully moved for pretrial detention of the defendants in the Somerset County Jail.
On November 16, 2022, following extensive pretrial litigation, the defendants entered guilty pleas.