It’s been nearly seven years since Bruce Bemer was the high bidder in a foreclosure auction for the New London-Waterford Speedbowl, and most of that time has been surrounded by drama and issues revolving around the facility and a high profile legal case
Oct: 18, 2014 – Bemer is the high bidder on the New London-Waterford Speedbowl in a foreclosure auction of the property
Nov. 3, 2014 – The pending foreclosure sale to Bemer is stalled in court.
Nov. 14, 2014 – Court set to approve foreclosure sale to Bemer.
Nov. 17, 2014 – Creditor Ed DeMuzzio announces that he will file an appeal of the court’s approval of the foreclosure sale to Bemer.
Dec. 3, 2014 – DeMuzzio files motion to hold up approval of foreclosure sale to Bemer.
Feb. 4, 2015 – Bemer reaches settlement with DeMuzzio.
Feb. 5, 2015 – Bemer closes on sale of the Speedbowl.
Feb. 18, 2015 – Shawn Monahan named general manager, Scott Tapley named race director in first management choices by Bemer
May 2, 2015 – The first event is run at the Speedbowl under the ownership of Bemer
Dec. 1, 2015 – Plans for numerous track upgrades announced, most notably replacement of catch fencing.
May 8, 2016 – Speedbowl opens for the 2016 season with fans welcomed by numerous offseason track upgrades.
Sept. 2, 2016 – The FBI and police search Bemer’s propane business in Glastonbury as part of an investigation into male prostitution.
Oct. 30, 2016 – After months of rumors and speculation Monahan officially announces he is stepping down as general manager of the Speedbowl.
Jan. 21, 2017 – Former Speedbowl star Tom Fox is named the new race director at the track.
March 29, 2017 – Bemer is arrested for patronizing a trafficked person.
April 4, 2017 – Tom Fox announces resignation as race director.
April 6, 2017 – NASCAR announces they are terminating their sanctioning agreement with the Speedbowl and cancelling the Whelen Modified Tour event scheduled at the track for July 2017
April 26, 2017 – The expected early May start of the 2017 season is indefinitely postponed.
May 16, 2017 – Potential buyer Norm Wrenn walks away from negotiations to purchase the track from Bemer
June 5, 2017 – Track officials announced the facility will open in 2017 and be operated by former Speedbowl competitor George Whitney.
June 22, 2017 – NASCAR rejects Whitney’s request to return their Whelen All-American Series sanction back to the track.
June 24, 2017 – Speedbowl opens for 2017 season under Whitney’s management, but legal issues of ownership keep many away.
Nov. 23, 2017 – Whitney announces plan to replace grandstands at the track before 2018 season.
May 5, 2018 – Speedbowl opens for 2018 season with original grandstand still standing, replacement project unmentioned.
September 9, 2018 – Whitney unexpectedly walks away from the Speedbowl leaving remainder of the season in question.
Sept. 18, 2018 – Mike Serluca announced as new Speedbowl operator.
Jan. 26, 2019 – Serluca announces that track officials have begun demolition of main grandstand at Speedbowl.
April 1, 2019 – More than two years after his arrest, Bemer’s trial begins in Danbury Superior Court.
April 10, 2019 – Bemer found guilty on four counts of patronizing a trafficked person and one count of being an accessory to human trafficking. Sentencing scheduled for June 6. Future of race track uncertain.
June 17, 2019 – Bemer sentenced to 10 years in prison.
June 17, 2019 – Bemer’s defense team formally announces plans to appeal conviction.
April – October, 2019 – Track remains closed for the entirety of the 2019 season.
August 8, 2020 – The track reopens under new general manager Mike Marfeo, hosts its first regular racing card since Oct. 2018.
May 15, 2021 – The track opens its Saturday night racing schedule for the 2021 season.
Sept. 29, 2021 – The Connecticut Supreme Court overturns Bemer’s conviction.
Well, that puts things in perspective.
Missing are the dates of his co-conspirators pleading guilty. Bemer patronized sex trafficked individuals, not just a trafficked person. I’m still baffled by people supporting this parasite by attending events at the bowl. For reasons beyond my comprehension, they chose to financially support a parasitic human and his choice to dehumanize and abuse sex trafficked boys and men of various disabilities. I question their morals as much as I do Bemer’s. I’ve seen many a person choose racing over their wives, children, work, etc., but to choose to support this incurable human life form is disgusting at best. Entertainment and/or ego, you selfishly chose a track over humanity. You all make me sick.
K, not all. There are some profoundly narcissistic characters here, but not all. Clearly when anything happens, the first thing they think of is how this will affect themselves. There are Sour and Viva that clearly are only concerned with the operation of the track and if they are going to have a place to swill beer and gorge on hot dogs through the summer. Those two are probably trying to come up with a way to blame the victims that Bemer preyed upon.
Then there’s Doug that encouraged everyone to support the track so Bemer would have more money available for the victims. Imagine being that dead in the head to say something like that? Doug takes the cake with his whining about a ticket line that is 3 minutes too long, so he leaves. And the lines for the fry-o-lator chow is too long. And so on. But he tells everyone else to go and support the track so Bemer will have more assets available for his victims. And not just Doug, but his numerous other handles. Doug is a real gem.
All roads lead to narcissism.
K, if you really want to be repulsed, go read the letter that was just released by the retired Pope. He blames the pedophilia of the clergy and homosexuality that goes on in seminaries on the absence of God. Can you imagine the absence of God in a seminary? When all else fails, play ‘the devil made me do it’ card. Pedophiles are outstanding examples of narcissists.
Oh yeah the pope. Sat next to him at Waterford once. He was a huge Rocco fan.
Beer yuck, and cold hot dogs no thanks . Honorable mention from Dareal Priceless…
I hate this for everyone .
I don’t go as much as I used to . Rather fish then support George last year.
Was Hoping to see what Mike would have done he has some good ideas.
Here come the judge, here come the judge, order in the courtroom here come the judge.
That’s pretty cool DGF. Trying to start rhubarbs by triangulating your attacks. Assuming all the time you have the credibility and stature to be an arbiter.
I’m on to you, you wascally wabbit.
In the end who cares what any of us think.
Zacklie
I have followed the story of Mr Bemer on interweb news and on tv news and the first words out the news people is the Waterford speedbowl owner they don’t say any thing about his other bussnesses the oil co. the two moyorcycle dealerships just the race track getting all the bad rap it sucks the race track didn’t do any wrong but the NEWS IS APPLYING THAT IT DID and making people think its a bad place to go and have a good time with family or racers the track did NOTHING WRONG I am a old time race of the speedbowl its a grat place to race and watch racing I hope the track will surive all the bad press
bill Giles, you want Bemer’s other businesses to be mentioned too?
What has happened to the track is not the fault of the media. What if the track were the only business owned by Bemer?
I read these comments and I never understand the absolute hatred for the speedbowl. I completely get that this guy is a scumbag, but on top of it everyone always trashes the Speedbowl because of it. If you are reading this site and you take the time to comment you are obviously a racing fan. The race tracks are going away quickly and no one seems to care. The bowl may never open again, Thompson is down to a quarter of the schedule that they always had. These same people trashing the place will be the same people that say man I miss when I could go to the races without going out of state or all the way up to Stafford. It’s pretty sad.
Bemer wont do any significant jail time. the state has culpability / exposure for allowing an employee or subcontractor to remove the victims from the places they were institutionalized. of course no one has mentioned the state of Ct .. yet.. now with the addition of some power players on Bemers legal team expect the original deal to re surface . no jail time, suspended with sex offender status. hey that’s justice.. plenty of blame to go around ….all those years those creeps supplied “boys” to Bemer .. you think he was the only “john” (end user) ????..lets get real .. these young men were “pimped” to plenty of other powerful people who were insulated from prosecution on this one … the openly gay man with the deepest pocket loses. or perhaps not
Great timeline. Interesting to see how this goes through appeals or whatever they are considering.
Sour Grapes,
I’m not sure if you saw the story, but he was already convicted and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison today. Barring a successful appeal, he will be going to prison.
Well to be fair he doesn’t call himself “Juicy Ripe Peaches” nor “Bountiful Harvest” . He’s Sour Grapes and just delivered sour grapes.
“I have followed the story of Mr Bemer on interweb news and on tv news and the first words out the news people is the Waterford speedbowl owner they don’t say any thing about his other bussnesses the oil co. the two moyorcycle dealerships”
News outlets, or at least the local newspaper to which I subscribe, have mentioned his other businesses and did so again in today’s report.
https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-bruce-bemer-sentenced-in-sex-trafficking-case-0618-20190617-pi55nliyznbnzgg3pgzjeyth3e-story.html
Sour Grapes, Bemer has been convicted and sentenced. The bell has been rung. He’s just doing all he can to delay going to prison, and appealing everything and anything he can to cause more and more delays.
Those items you mentioned are no longer options.
I guess none of you has ever seen an appeal process play out… kinda funny. really. look at the players and you will figure out what really occurred and how many people were actually involved. there will be many who wont want to have their names attached and have been kept out of the case. they figured Bemer would never go to trial, would take the deal. he did not. was convicted now will appeal..happens every day . Bemers appeal will go thru for retrial …improper instruction to jury whatever the legal BS provides for and or the state will offer the original deal to keep the other degenerate males who participated in this sickness out of the papers etc.. .
I should think few here would have had a first hand opportunity to see an appeals process play out. Hopefully not anyway.
That’s the beauty of the internet. All kinds of information available. The actual filling may be available on a Ct Appellate Court search engine once it works it’s way through the system. It would be interesting to see the Yale professors three page letter that the appeal seems to be based on.
What I’ve learned so far is that just because you file an appeal doesn’t mean it will even be heard. In fact the vast majority are rejected.
In cases like this one involving sex offenses calling the judges actions into accounts is one of the three primary ways to base an appeal. In this situation the judge was appointed in 2007 by Jodi Rell and has a ton of experience. They’ll have to prove that the instructions caused the jury to reach the verdict they did, that it was biased or flawed in some way and specifically caused the jury to come to an unjust verdict..
Possible but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.
Sour Grapes, turning down a no-jail deal for this? At his age? Please explain. I wonder what the terms and conditions were with the no-jail offer. He probably was required to register as a sex offender and many years of probation, psychotherapy, just to name a few, just as with his current sentence.
Clearly they are trying to do better than the no-jail deal. Bemer rolled the dice, and now he’s at risk, big risk. They are trying to do all they can to prevent a retrial. Witnesses are humiliated by what they did with/for Bemer and won’t testify. They knew their case was weak, so they had an appeals attorney in court all through the trial. And that Bemer admitted to it didn’t help. This deal with King looks like it was just another operation in the Bemer enterprise. This went on for over 20 years. Bemer didn’t know what King was doing for over 20 years? You gotta be kidding or an idiot. You need to understand that King was scraping the bottom of the barrel of humanity. The boys that King was providing to Bemer were low functioning people, barely able to survive on their own, if at all. These were obviously challenged people. These are the boys King scouted out and collected to bring to Bemer, a very successful businessman, to take advantage of their vulnerability and desperation in order to sate his urges.
It’s far more complicated. Think about it… say you are a drug user and you get indebted to your dealer. What can the dealer do about it? Can the dealer call the cops and have you arrested for stealing? Of course not. The dealer can threaten other means to coerce cooperation to address the debt load, and clearly that is what happened. There must have been threats beyond money, coercive threats. It was known these boys had no other means to earn money.
Dareal , my opinion is he is trying to keep his petroleum license, his licensing from several motorcycle manufacturers and his employees. We’re not sure if he has anybody who can take care of these things for him. So sometimes you fight for yourself but there are underlying things that we don’t all know. Like I said before it’s an interesting process. If you read the court reports and the things that are said you wonder how they came up with a guilty verdict. But I understand there was overwhelming evidence that was presented to the jury and that was the decision that was made . You read the letter from the gentleman from Yale. We also read about the appellate attorneys. I believe they’re stand up people and they wouldn’t say these things just because they’re getting paid. So it makes it really interesting so we’re all saying he’s guilty they’re saying he’s guilty. But all the attorneys and everybody surrounding them are saying that there was some Miss Justice in the court system no. It’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out. I pray for all the families and people involved I pray for his employees. And I have empathy for Mr Beemer. Sometimes you don’t realize what you’re doing when you’re doing it and you don’t think you’re hurting anybody especially when it carries on for so long. I am sure it’s drilled in his head what has happened and now hopefully he sees the bad path he was on. God bless the Speedbowl I hope we’re racing by the end of the year. In the people who think that he’s making money at the Speedbowl to help support the victims or himself. With all the time lost in the last three years and the people he had managing it I’m pretty sure he’s way in the hole. I want to track to survive for all the people who have years and years of growing up there and lots of first in their life. The place is a Mainstay in a staple to Waterford. Shawn thank you for the great forum.
Just Reopen the place Let’s go racing
Viva, I’ve read the reports and followed this case, and I do not wonder at all how the jury reached the guilty verdict. There is no question at all that Bemer solicited people for sex. His own attorney even stated so during the trial. The issue here that the defense is trying to create is the trafficking of challenged persons, and the nuances of language and the attempt to plant doubt that the jury understood what they were doing. That’s going to be a tough theory to prove, it will require thought police. From the published reports I’ve seen, there can be no way that Bemer didn’t know what was going on for over 20 years. NO WAY. The testimony from King and others prove the State position that King and Bemer were a team, searching out destitute, vulnerable boys.
It’s as silly as kids that get caught in possession of marijuana or illegal drugs, and they claim it wasn’t theirs and they didn’t know – long after the fact. Well, they were idiots for “holding” it, idiots for expecting anyone would believe that stupidity, although some bad parents will defend their children and blame the dealer. It was illegal to possess it, regardless of whose dope it was. The defense appears to be accusing the State of failing to educate the jury to their satisfaction. How will the State know what was going on in the heads of the jury members? The defense is doing a good job trying to create doubt. Stay tuned.
Everything happens for a reason, sometimes the reason is you’re stupid and make bad decisions.
Buddy wrote: “Just Reopen the place Let’s go racing”
Genius, pure genius. Hey Mike Serluca, you see this? Why hasn’t anybody else thought of this?
Great idea. 🤣😂🤣😂
The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.
Well said #2
Its always folk with enough money that walk, Creepy Cosby is free too after a short stint in the slammer.
I have tried to support Bruce and the Track.
Alot of you didn’t. I read and looked thru alot hear say . Even had some provided info and even prayed that this would work it’s way fwd and they had to vacate the verdict . There are people involved and that sucks but also lawyers pray on people of wealth.
Lets move fwd. Saturday has a full program .
See you in turn 1.
Why don’t all the people who put the track down either shut up and just stay home or do something about it. Dont try to talk on here and hide in a tree somewhere. We dont need those bums.
Don’t fret racer, Dafella hides in the basement Saturday nights. The world needs more hero’s like him.
What a great night at speedbowl. Owen wins 2nd championship in a week. Great food new Spanish food cart. Tacos were good. Wished Rocco Showed but hurt the 57 last night.
Throw the bums out right Racer x? No more talk of the owner of the Waterford Speedbowl would be your preference and many others I’m sure. It’s a common desire these days not wanting to hear or read things we find disagreeable no matter how valid. We even have separate media outlets providing us with only the facts we know we want to hear and read. With so many ways for people to express opinions the notion of stopping it all is a fools errand.
I get supporting the track. Were it my home track I’d do the exact same thing. Let’s see my home track is holding races and I can go or stay home because the owner is a horrible person. That one is easy I’m going to the races.
Since 2017 the same voices in this forum that spoken up for the owner at his darkest hour, are still speaking up and perhaps crowing a bit. Seeking to turn the page and a return to normalcy like none of it ever happened. Is that really a possibility? Can Jimmy Wilson or another representative of the NWMT sit down with the owner to negotiate a race deal and shut out the behavior the man was engaged in?
The sordid life of the owner with unsavory proclivities may not have resulted in a conviction but the life lived well documented An escape based on a fine legal point valid but a jury of his peers unanimously voted for conviction based on what they “inferred” from the testimony. We now know you can’t base a conviction on that but the facts leading to the inference do not go away. Other then the Superior Court ruling I don’t see that much really has changed regarding the fundamental problem with the Speedbowl going forward since reputation counts.
A free man now the owner can wander the facility on race night with no current charges hanging over his head like any owner might do. Actually be proud of what he’s accomplished and take glad tidings of some of you here that have been on his side all the time. Yet there are others seeing him and keeping an eye out. Knowing he is a man that favors young men and in a place with a lot of young men. I’m not getting hyperbolic on this and not trying to portray any kind of physical threat it’s the image here that is in play.
The strong supporters here want to believe it’s all water under the bridge with normalcy set to return next spring. Maybe even with Tri Track or NWMT events. There are far more people competing at the track and attending races not pretending that anything is normal now. They know there is nothing to be proud of in supporting ownership nor will they speak up for him they just want to support the continued survival of the Waterford Speedbowl. And there are still the people that will stay away.
I suspect the current ownership of the Speedbowl with continue to be an open wound for the track. One man the savior of racing there and an albatross holding it back from reaching it’s full potential at the same time. Innocent of specific criminal felony charges but guilty of living a sordid life praying on the vulnerable. Getting knifed by a significant other, charges from spitting in another domestic dispute and the continuing civil law suits after paying out tens of millions already.
Prior to the spring of 2017 Bruce Bemer operated in the shadows successfully hiding his sketchy life style. That’s all gone now. Redemption not possible because the man has never publicly shown any contrition for anything he’s done.
I’d hope the misdemeanor charges for engaging prostitutes is still on the table for the state. Each charge carrying a maximum 1 year in jail. Not normally a penalty a judge would charge most John’s but in this case one year seems appropriate. There should be some penalty for a this sort of behavior other then paying lawyers to get you out of the jamb you got yourself into.
Well, the track would not be in the mess it is in if the owner didn’t get in the trouble he got himself into. Is that too obvious?
Way back in 2019 I said it was going be a “thought police” issue. Beamer settled many cases with many victims, and those settlement agreements probably had clauses that required the victims to not testify in any cases against him. I do believe no victims testified against Beamer.
Thought police cases, like morality laws, are tough to enforce. Just look at Prohibition.
Just look at when Ryan Newman was running that Mod with the cheated up engine… you think he didn’t know he had something real special??? Everybody knew there was something going on, with that car dominating and winning with ease. When it was all done, it was found to be cheated up with great effort and thought, and Ryan Newman hasn’t been a factor in mods since then. Why do I bring that up? Well, the results Newman was producing with that cheated up motor were anomalously far and above normal expected performance. It should have never gone on that long, all those races. But when it was done, it was irrefutable physical evidence that showed what they were doing. Beamer had the luxury of the middlemen and the veil of insulation that provided. Beamer could always claim he knew nothing about the victims, just that they showed up in the Winnebago. Any trafficking stopped with the other two guys, that delivered the boys to Beamer. Beamer was just the consumer. That’s where the prosecution needed irrefutable connections between the victims, the two pimps that were harvesting and delivering these boys, and then with Beamer. Unless they had a wire and recordings, Beamer could very well claim he didn’t know, and the Prosecution would have the responsibility to prove otherwise, with recordings if possible, or testimony of the traffickers saying Beamer knew exactly what was going on.
It might be impossible to enforce these Thought Police laws, just like it was impossible to enforce Prohibition. Thought Police laws are more like religious dogmas, and perhaps a bit of a stretch for a secular government.
Beamer’s own lawyer was in the press as saying as deplorable as what he did, there was no conclusive and irrefutable connection between the traffickers/trafficking and Beamer. Of course he was supposed to say things like that. But what that means is that the law enforcement and prosecution will have to be far more professional in collecting evidence in future trafficking cases.
Aren’t all pimps trafficking in some way?
This is a stink that will linger over the track until a new owner takes over.