in the news

I am writing in response to the recent Telegram & Gazette article quoting Dr. Michael Hirsh regarding mpox cases involving two women described as homeless and as sex workers. The language used in the article was harmful to people with lived experience of exploitation and to survivors like myself.

WORCESTER – The director of the St. John's Food for the Poor Program, an AbbVie employee and three other men are facing sex trafficking charges after police allege they recently tried to solicit sex from undercover officers posing as a 15-year-old girl.

Raphael J. Mesadieu – a 39-year-old Worcester man who St. John's Church pastor Father John Madden confirmed was serving as the food program's director – is charged with human trafficking of a child, enticement of a child under age 16 and offering to pay for sex with a child.

Mesadieu's arrest comes four years after longtime program director William Riley stepped down following allegations he coerced vulnerable soup-kitchen patrons into sex.

When we learned that Chief Michael Alibozek of the Cheshire Police Department had been arrested and charged with soliciting sex for a fee, the news hit hard. Alibozek has pleaded not guilty and, like anyone, is entitled to the full protections of due process. But his arrest raises serious concerns that cannot be brushed aside. When the highest-ranking law enforcement officer in a community faces charges connected to prostitution, it forces us to confront difficult questions about trust, safety and accountability.