Wilmer Chavez Romero previously was indicted on racketeering and murder charges in connection with his alleged role in a statewide prostitution ring.
NEWARK -- An alleged enforcer for a New Jersey prostitution ring has pleaded not guilty to federal murder and racketeering charges in connection with two killings in Trenton more than three years ago.
NJ Advance Media reported in October that Wilmer Chavez Romero, of New Brunswick, had been charged under an eight-count indictment in U.S. District Court with two murders in 2012 and 2013.
Chavez Romero, 27, was arraigned on the indictment Tuesday before District Judge William H. Walls in Newark, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The indictment describes Romero, who was first arrested on a human trafficking charge in September 2014, as the "house manager" for a Bridgeton brothel run by a statewide prostitution ring.
The unnamed criminal organization also operated other brothels in New Brunswick, Trenton, Orange, Asbury Park, Lakewood, according to the indictment.
Chavez Romero, who the indictment states served as an enforcer for the organization, allegedly killed two people on Sept. 4, 2012 and Jan. 23, 2013 in Mercer County.
The indictment identifies the victims only as "N.R.G." and "B.E.," respectively, but news reports from Trenton at the time name them as Neemias Reyes-Gonzales, 36 and Benito Escalante, 26.
The indictment doesn't specify a motive for these two killings, but prosecutors say the group employed violence both against rivals and associates who they perceived to be disloyal.
Chavez Romero specifically is alleged to have committed violent acts both in order to further organization's criminal aims and to hide its illegal activities.
According to reports, Reyes-Gonzales previously had been arrested in a prostitution sting in July 2012, and Escalante was killed in a home that had been visited by law enforcement in a similar investigation around that time.
Alleged brothel enforcer charged
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Chavez Romero faces the possibility of death or life imprisonment if convicted of murder in aid of racketeering, the use of a firearm during a violent crime or conspiring to harbor aliens resulting in death.
The U.S. Attorney's Office did not indicate if prosecutors would seek the death penalty on those charges.
The racketeering and racketeering conspiracy offenses Chavez Romero is charged with carry a maximum sentences of life in prison.
Chavez Romero's case is currently scheduled for trial Jan. 3, 2017.
Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.