NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Somali man who refused to testify against gang members in a sex trafficking trial in Nashville told a judge that he was assaulted and informed that gang members would get him if he snitched.
Abdullahi Farah was charged with criminal contempt for refusing to testify during a federal trial against nine defendants accused in a sex trafficking ring. Three people were convicted and six were acquitted by a jury in May.
Farah said on the stand Thursday that men wearing masks assaulted him twice and he was told that threats were made against him for cooperating with federal prosecutors in the case that includes more than 30 defendants and spanned from Minnesota to Ohio and Tennessee.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Todd Campbell found him guilty of criminal contempt.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
