Calgary police are looking for additional victims in a human-trafficking investigation that spanned Alberta and Quebec and resulted in charges against five men in both provinces.
Calgary’s police force announced the charges on Thursday, though the five suspects were arrested in 2018 and 2019. The investigation involves allegations that women, including at least one minor, were recruited and then trafficked into the sex trade in Calgary, Staff-Sergeant Jodi Gach said.
“What we are looking for is anybody else who had interactions with these five accused who can come to talk to Calgary police,” she said.
“What we want to do is to make sure that people are supported to come forward.”
The investigation began almost two years ago when Quebec police contacted their counterparts in Calgary about potential human-trafficking victims.
Staff-Sgt. Gach declined to say how many women were involved and how they were recruited, other than to say recruitment was done through “various methods.”
She said the women were “psychologically controlled,” adding that this often involves targeting vulnerable women, removing them from their families and support systems, and making them dependent on housing, food and other needs.
They were then forced to perform sexual acts, largely advertised online, with the alleged traffickers keeping all of the money and material benefits, Staff-Sgt. Gach said.
Calgary police said officers executed a search warrant in July of 2018, when they discovered a human-trafficking victim, along with drugs and a handgun. One person was arrested.
Additional arrests were made in Calgary and Quebec later in 2018 and 2019.
Staff-Sgt. Gach said police don’t anticipate charges against anyone else but do believe some of the men came into contact with other women in Calgary. That’s who they are looking for.
The five men facing charges are Vincent-Olivier Marcheterre, 34; Antoni Proietti, 29; Hicham Moustaine, 28; Sergei Dube-Cavalli, 28; and Mikhail Kloubakov, 29. The first two were arrested in Quebec, and the rest were arrested in Calgary.
A trial date is expected to be set in the coming weeks.
Staff-Sgt. Gach said human trafficking is underreported and investigations are incredibly complex, especially when victims are reluctant to come forward.
"Victims are recruited and sexually exploited, and they may not even know at the time that they are being manipulated.”
“Once they are in that life, it becomes very difficult for them to get out of it.”
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James Keller