A 33-year-old Winnipeg man who was arrested last year after a two-year police investigation into human trafficking has now been sentenced to three years in prison – one of the first long sentences for the Manitoba charge, Winnipeg police said.
The investigation began in 2019 on a person whom the police believed was recruiting young women to provide sexual services for hire.
The Winnipeg Police Department’s Anti-Exploitation Division identified two victims recruited by the trafficker after he posted photos of the victims in an online massage advertisement.
The trafficker was arrested in April 2021 after searching three rental properties in Winnipeg.
Feros Taylor, 33, was initially charged with acquiring a person for providing sexual services, advertising sexual services, sexual violence and receiving material benefits from sexual services.
Taylor was convicted on charges of material gain last month, police said Friday.
This is the first time that an investigation into human trafficking in Manitoba has produced a substantial conviction, Staff Sergeant. This was said by Maria Konyuk at a press conference.
It is often very difficult to get a conviction on such charges, said Konyuk, who had previously been in the anti-exploitation unit and was actively involved in the investigation.
“There is so much reliance on the victim to testify,” she said.
“That’s why, knowing this, we wanted to have all the evidence so that we could try to minimize the trauma to the victims when the trial began.”
The news comes a day after the Manitoba RCMP announced charges of human trafficking against a Quebec man who was arrested after initially being stopped for chaotic driving in Manitoba.
Police said at the time that there appeared to be a physical altercation between the man and his companion.
It was later established that the woman was a victim of human trafficking and was taken from Quebec to British Columbia, RCMP said in a press release on Thursday.
The Winnipeg man has been arrested in a human trafficking investigation
Feros Taylor was arrested last year after a two-year police investigation into human trafficking. He has now been sentenced to three years in prison – one of the first long sentences for the Manitoba charge, Winnipeg police said.
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