Detectives detail probe of Steven Gilbert in sex trafficking case

The Lorain County Drug Task Force first went after Steven Gilbert for his drug dealing. Its work in 2021 resulted in a 10- to 15-year prison sentence for the Elyria man, handed down by Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Miraldi last year. It was only when they were well into that investigation they realized Gilbert was running a prostitution ring, two detectives testified Tuesday. Detective Vic Ortiz testified that he and other officers had to build trust with Gilbert's alleged victims to get them to "open up a little more" and talk about what Gilbert was doing following his arrest. Investigators wanted to "ID as many girls as we believed were being trafficked, as much as possible" who were being "controlled and manipulated" by Gilbert, Ortiz testified. Detectives had done video surveillance on Gilbert's mother's house, attached tracking devices to his three Mercedes vehicles, and caught him on camera dealing drugs. They served search warrants and found bank records, hotel records and two guns that allegedly belonged to him, they testified. Only later, after Gilbert was in Lorain County Jail, did some of the women who became his accusers tell detectives that Gilbert had sexually assaulted or physically abused them. Even then, some were still afraid of Gilbert, Ortiz testified. Former drug task force detective Madison Schneider testified she and Ortiz trailed Gilbert, followed one of his ex-girlfriends who helped him deal drugs but who also is one of his alleged victims, and also kept tabs on a Cleveland man who was supplying Gilbert with drugs. After gathering enough evidence, detectives served search warrants on Gilbert's mother's house on Belmont Avenue in Elyria on July 21, 2021. Gilbert was giving measured doses of drugs to the women he trafficked and dispensing them through his bedroom window, detectives testified. He had incorporated "All is Truly Well LLC" with the secretary of state's office in November 2020, calling it a kind of taxi service. Detectives subpoenaed its tax records along with Gilbert's personal tax records and learned he hadn't filed tax returns between 2015 and 2019. Gilbert officially claimed $14,060 in income in 2020. Detectives saw him handling much more than that while doing surveillance, Schneider testified. Bank and hotel records showed a pattern of Gilbert booking hotel rooms in Avon, Elyria, Milan and Sandusky over a span of multiple months in 2020 and early-to-mid 2021, she testified. Multiple alleged victims have told the jury Gilbert rented hotel rooms for them across the region so they could have sex with men for money. Gilbert then forced the women to pay him back with money or sex acts in exchange for drugs. He also raped, beat and threatened them, was always armed with guns and cared only about how much money they were bringing in, the women testified. Gilbert, 36, faces 58 separate felony charges and specifications. He has pleaded not guilty to rape, kidnapping, sexual battery, human trafficking, compelling and promoting prostitution, racketeering and money laundering. Outside the hearing of the jury on Tuesday, Miraldi told Lorain County Assistant Prosecutors Matt Kern, Mark Koza and Tom DeRoma and defense attorney Steve Albenze that he's "never had this many" felony charges against a single person in a case in his courtroom. Testimony resumes today. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @DaveOBrienCT.