Read more at CBC News…

Escort sting brings $134,000 in fines

A two-day sting operation aimed at unlicensed escorts and escort agencies in Edmonton has resulted in $134,000 in fines levied against 20 escorts and 15 agencies, police said Thursday.

“We set up in a local hotel and we call off craigslist a number of the women who advertise themselves there,” said Det. Chuck Prince of the Edmonton Police Service’s vice unit.

“We’re looking for the women who are unlicensed, and ask them to respond to provide a sexual service for the occupant of the hotel suite.”

If the escort wasn’t licensed, or if the agency she represents wasn’t licensed, fines of $2,500 and more were levied, Prince said.

The goal is not to cut down on prostitution — which is legal so long as it’s not arranged in a public place — it’s to ensure that those who provide the service are licensed.

Another candidate for Boss of the Year.  Read more at CHTV.com…

Sex worker’s boss asked her to ‘train’ with him
He wanted to show her techniques, court told
by Karen Kleiss

A 23-year-old sex-trade worker testified Wednesday her boss wanted to “train” her to work in his massage parlour by personally showing her how to pleasure the clients.

“He told me he had to take me in for a training session,” the woman testified on day three of the man’s trial. He told her: “I have to show you what to do … so you can pleasure the clients and they come back for you.”

The woman refused the training session, saying she didn’t feel right about it, given that she was already paying him $60 for each half-hour she spent with a client in a room at hiss studio.

The 63-year-old Edmonton man faces eight charges, including two counts of keeping a common bawdy house and three counts of living on the avails of prostitution.

The woman said she slept with almost all of the clients who came to the two downtown brothels, called Just for Men and Hustler’s. The majority of her clients requested “full service,” which meant oral sex, masturbation, sex and a massage. The going rate was $220 to $260. They paid cash.

The woman’s testimony follows that of another employee, who said the boss conducted mandatory “evaluations” during which the women were required to demonstrate their “customer service” skills and masturbate him, for free.

Read more at The Province.com…

HIV-positive prostitute to be freed
Vancouver police don’t know yet whether they will be issuing a public warning
By Sam Cooper

A Vancouver prostitute jailed in 2007 for having unprotected sex without revealing she was HIV-positive will be back on the street today.

The 30-year-old Vancouver woman that police say sold sex in the Downtown Eastside, Burnaby, Maple Ridge and Bellingham, Wash., was released today after serving two-thirds of a 2-1/2-year aggravated sexual assault sentence, Department of Corrections spokesman Alain Charette told The Province.

Charette said he could not say where she will live or whether she will be released into a halfway house.

…

Because of a court publication ban, it’s not clear whether additional charges were brought against Whonnock, or whether her victim was infected with HIV.

“She was convicted on one count,” Charette said.

According to a study released in March by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, 26 per cent of Vancouver’s female sex-trade workers are infected with HIV.

The study estimates there are up to 520 female sex workers in Vancouver.

Read the whole story at The Edmonton Sun…

Edmonton prostitute uses Craigslist to find clients
By Cary Castagna

She goes by the name “Jessica” and says she just turned 18.

Her ad on Craigslist bills her as a “sexy Asian knockout” living in downtown Edmonton.

“I’m really 18,” she tells Sun Media early yesterday afternoon with a laugh.

It’s a busy day for Jessica, whose “true companionship” and “erotic service” costs $200 an hour.

“Lots of people call,” she says in broken English, noting she’ll be booked for the next four hours but has an opening at 4:30 p.m.

Jessica works from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and accepts five to six appointments per day.

She explains that she’s headed back to Vancouver in a few days and she only resorted to Craigslist because she needs the fast cash for college.

Jessica is just one of countless teens advertising sexual services to Edmonton men on the popular classifieds website.

Dozens of “erotic” ads — mostly from women claiming to be between 18 and 25 — are posted daily in the Edmonton section.

Several ads, accompanied by nude photos, didn’t mince words about the sexual services for sale.

“FeiFei,” who claims to be a 22-year-old Japanese student living in downtown Edmonton, says she likes to shower with nice guys and offers an hour of “full service” for $200.

A reporter tags along and offers an interesting look at a police sting. Read the whole story at The Edmonton Sun…

Ride along on a john sting
By ANDREW HANON

It’s 7:55 a.m. The young woman standing on the corner has already been approached by a man who wants her to have sex with him and his brother.

“Doesn’t matter what time of day it is, or what day of the week,” Det. Del August says with a sigh as he listens to the conversation through the woman’s transmitter. “It’s 24-seven.”

August, a member of the Edmonton police vice unit, is directing a daylight john sting. He’s keeping an eye on the woman, a 27-year-old cop who could pass for 16, while other plainclothes officers hide nearby in unmarked cars, waiting to swoop in and make arrests.

Even at this time of the day, it takes two “arrest teams” to keep up with the number of men trying to buy sex from the “decoy.”

By lunch time, they will charge five men and seize four vehicles. At least a dozen others will approach her.

The man with the brother scurries away before they can agree on a price, hustling down a nearby alley. He’s clean, well dressed and looks about 50 years old.

Later on, another man pulls up in a car and offers her $15 to perform oral sex on him. She agrees.

That’s all August needs to hear. A price and an act have been agreed to, and that’s enough to lay a charge of communication for the purpose of prostitution.

He radios the arrest team and within seconds the john is handcuffed in the back of their car.

He sits motionless and dazed-looking while Constables Curtis Hoople and Denise Zielie search his car.

Read the whole story at CHTV.com…

Pair charged over northern Alberta escort agencies
by Ben Gelinas

Two residents of northern Alberta have been charged in connection with a Peace Region prostitution ring.

RCMP have implicated three escort agencies – Black Orchid, Campus Cuties and Midnight Oil – all of which were allegedly involved in the sex trade in and around the town of Grimshaw, just west of Peace River.

RCMP believe escorts from these agencies frequented hotels and private homes in the area on a regular basis to perform sexual services for clients. They are working to identify escorts and suspected clients.

Campus Cuties advertises “classy ladies to satisfy your fantasy” and “5 star service,” while Black Orchid promises “discreet encounters” with “new ladies bi-weekly.”

A 51-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man from Berwyn have been charged with multiple offences, including operating a common bawdy house.

At least 18 escort agencies serve Grande Prairie and the Peace Region. Peace River is about 500 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

Read the whole story at The Edmonton Sun…

Seedy driving instructor guilty of running common bawdy house
By TONY BLAIS

A former Edmonton driving instructor accused of recruiting his students to work at his two massage parlours was convicted today of seven prostitution-related offences.

The man, 64, was found guilty of two counts of running a common bawdy house, one count of procurement, one count of attempted procurement and three counts of living on the avails of prostitution.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Richard Marceau said he found the man had a “high degree of participation” in the prostitution-related activities at the two massage parlours and was the “keeper of both bawdy houses.”

The judge ruled the man had advertisements with descriptions of the massage parlour workers that stressed their “sexual attributes rather than their massage abilities”

As well, he used “low lighting” at the parlours and supplied “bags of condoms,” lubricants and porn movies and magazines and had a list of fines for the prostitutes.

“The accused specifically told the prostitutes that the minimum was a massage and a handjob for $100. He hired them for that purpose and he took money from them for rent of the room,” said Marceau.

The judge also cited the man for telling one recruit to charge a doctor, he had lined up as her first customer, $400 to $500.

“In my view, it would be absurd to have some reasonable doubt that perhaps the doctor was ready to pay $500 for a holistic massage which was limited to hands, head and feet,” said Marceau.

We have a new candidate for 2009’s ‘Employer of the Year.’  The Edmonton Journal reports…

Sex worker’s boss asked her to ‘train’ with him
He wanted to show her techniques, court told
by Karen Kleiss

A 23-year-old sex-trade worker testified Wednesday her boss wanted to “train” her to work in his massage parlour by personally showing her how to pleasure the clients.

“He told me he had to take me in for a training session,” the woman testified on day three of the massage parlor owner’s trial. He told her: “I have to show you what to do … so you can pleasure the clients and they come back for you.”

The woman refused the training session, saying she didn’t feel right about it, given that she was already paying him $60 for each half-hour she spent with a client in a room at the owner’s studio.

The 63-year-old Edmonton man faces eight charges, including two counts of keeping a common bawdy house and three counts of living on the avails of prostitution.

The woman said she slept with almost all of the clients who came to Juneja’s two downtown brothels, called Just for Men and Hustler’s. The majority of her clients requested “full service,” which meant oral sex, masturbation, sex and a massage. The going rate was $220 to $260. They paid cash.

The woman’s testimony follows that of another employee, who said the man conducted mandatory “evaluations” during which the women were required to demonstrate their “customer service” skills and masturbate him, for free.

An earlier witness said Juneja kept a bag of condoms on site and would charge the girls to use them. He fined them for being late, for skipping work and for failing to properly groom their genitalia, she said.

Neither woman had worked in the sex-trade industry before responding to advertisements to work in hi’s massage parlours.

A look at how some recent deaths of escorts in a region of Canada has impacted the business.  Read the whole story at CNews.com…

Sex trade booms despite deaths
By ANDREW HANON

As far as Nancy’s concerned, Edmonton’s the best city in Canada to work as an escort.

“There’s more money and less grief,” she says. “The police are excellent for helping us, the cost of living is good compared to bigger cities and the licensing system works.”

FAR FROM RISK-FREE

Edmonton escorts routinely charge up to $600 per hour, but Nancy warns that it’s far from risk-free.

“This business will weed you out,” she says. “A lot of very naive girls get into it, but it’s survival of the fittest. If you last, it means you’ve learned, or grown up.”

But if you don’t learn, she adds darkly, “You could die.”

Edmonton’s so-called inside sex trade has been rocked this year by two high-profile deaths. The body of Brianna Torvalson, 21, who had been working over the Internet, was found on Feb. 21 on an acreage in Strathcona County. No charges have been laid in her slaying.

Leave the driving to us, I suppose!  Canada.com reports…

Brothel owner loses bid to re-open driving school

In a decision dated Sept. 29 and released this morning, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Donna Read upheld Alberta Transportation’s decision to suspend Vishva Juneja’s licence to operate the Alberta Defensive Driving School.

The 63-year-old driving instructor was charged earlier this year with two counts of keeping a common bawdy house, three counts of procuring prostitutes and three counts of living off the avails of prostitution.

Police allege he was using his position as a driving instructor to recruit young women to work for him at his massage parlours, which police allege operated as fronts for brothels