MINNEAPOLIS – The bail bond hearing last week for Anton Lazarro on sex-trafficking charges provided insights into a manner of living befitting an episode of Robin Leach’s 1980s television series “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” The revelations were incidental to the main point of Lazarro’s attorney, which was to argue for him to be released from jail on bond. .The argument failed: Lazarro was ordered back to jail in Elk River until a further court appearance. The hearing also yielded details about how the FBI and state sex-crime investigators put their case together.
> Authorities were tipped in July, when a teen-age girl and her family reported sex crimes.
> Lazarro’s attorney, Zachary Newland described him as an “upstanding member of the community” who coold be trsted not to flee the country if bail were allowed. Newland said Lazarro operated multiple decent businesses and posed no threat to the public. “To keep Mr. Lazzaro in jail pre-trial is to effectively shut down those businesses and force his employees out of a job,” Newland said.
> Newland asked the court to release Lazzaro on bond to his three-bedroom, 2,200-square-foot luxury condo at Ivy Tower in downtown Minneapolis. Yes, her said, 24/7 camera surveillance and GPS ankle monitoring would be acceptable. Newland noted that the public cannot access the elevator that leads to Lazzaro’s 19th-floor residence without walking past the front desk, which is monitored by a desk clerk 24 hours a day. Visitors need to check in with the front between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., and outside those hours the elevator can be use only with an electronic key fob. The elevator also has a camera inside. Further, Newland said, three cameras already are installed in Lazzaro’s condo, as well as a Ring camera doorbell at the front door. Newland proposed two more cameras and a keypad with a biometric thumbprint that an authenticator could be used to track activity in bathrooms and a laundry room.
> The defense paid a former FBI agent to do a security assessment of Lazzaro’s apartment. That former agent testified in support of Newland’s video monitoring plan.
Lazarro. The big-money benefactor of Republican candidates and causes is accused iof running a six ring for trafficking underage girls.
> Newland solicited a business partner of Lazzaro he would trust Lazzaro around his children.
> It would be OK, Newland said for Lazzaro not be allowed access internet devices except for work, communicating with attorneys. No “adult entertainment,” Newland promised.
> Also OK would regular drug and alcohol testing and being denied contact with minors.
> An alternative backup would be turning Lazarro over to his mother in California as a third-party custodian.