Thursday, October 24, 2013

Vancouver man sentenced to 18 months for human trafficking



Vancouver man sentenced to 18 months for human trafficking

 Franco Orr was convicted in June on three counts under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act





VANCOUVER — — A British Columbia man who lied to immigration officials in order to bring the family nanny to Canada from Hong Kong, luring her with empty promises so she would care for his three children, should spend 18 months in prison, a B.C. Supreme Court judge said Tuesday.
Franco Orr has been a productive member of society with no criminal record but he must spend time behind bars in order to deter others who would violate Canada's immigration laws, Justice Richard Goepel told the 50-year-old businessman before he was handcuffed and led out of the courtroom by a sheriff.

"Individuals cannot be allowed to disregard the immigration laws of this country with impunity," Goepel said.

While there have been dozens of convictions for human trafficking under the Criminal Code, this is the first such conviction under the Immigration Act.
Goepel said the Crown did not prove the nanny, Leticia Sarmiento, was subjected to humiliating or degrading treatment in the Orr residence, which would have been an aggravating factor.

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Thursday, October 10, 2013

Inside the world of human sex trafficking

Victims often don't fit the stereotype: they could be from a middle-class suburban family, being sold online. They could be your daughter


By: News reporter, Foreign, Published on Sat Oct 05 2013, Toronto Star

She poses on a bed, wearing pink lingerie and staring into the camera. “I’m young, I’m willing and I’m waiting for you,” reads the pitch in the online ad. “I love to please.”
Any suggestion of glamour vanishes quickly inside the seamy Scarborough hotel.
The hallways are fetid; it’s unlikely the rooms will be any better.
Brianne answers the knock, expecting to see the anonymous man with whom she negotiated sex-for-money over email about an hour earlier.

Instead, two police officers step inside the room — floral polyester bedspread, stained carpet — where the tattered beige curtains are drawn and a filmy camisole is draped over the lampshade in a sad attempt at atmosphere.More