By KIM BRADLEY, TORONTO SUN
She was shaking and nearly in tears when the police barged in on her having sex with a client inside a massage parlour in the city's northwest. The police had the same reaction when they discovered her age.
The young girl, whom we'll call Jenny, told the police she was 17 but the baby fat on her face and her innocent eyes made her look not a day over 15.
Police from Toronto, York, Peel and Durham Regions sprang into action last night, raiding 350 massage parlours in a massive joint operation code-named Project Home for Christmas.
RCMP, immigration and bylaw officers were also involved.
Jenny hopped on a bus with her 16-year-old best friend Tammy (also not her real name) from Kitchener two days ago with dreams of a glamorous life. But glamour is not what they found.
The girls had no money and no place to live, so they ended up at the Weston Rd. and Sheppard Ave. W. parlour, which was one of 350 raided.
"I came here to make money so I could go to school to be a hairdresser," Jenny said while she waited to be taken to a nearby police station and eventually moved to a safe house.
"I want to open a salon one day."
Jenny leaned her flushed face on her hands and stared off into space as officers asked her about a hotel room where she and her friend had been staying.
However, Jenny refused to answer and instead concentrated on her belongings, which included a new pair of sexy, strappy sandals.
"These kids should be opening presents, not condoms," said Det. Reuben Stroble, of Toronto Police's child exploitation unit.
The man Jenny was caught having sex with was charged with paying for sex with a minor. Her alleged pimp was later arrested in a York Region hotel and is facing charges.
"There is absolutely an underground sex-slave industry in Canada, no question," said Det.-Sgt. Paul Gillespie, head of the child exploitation unit, as he rounded up more than 200 officers divided into 32 teams for last night's strikes.
"This is the largest endeavour of its kind that has ever occurred in this country. What we are doing today will have a lot of impact on a lot of less fortunate people," Gillespie said.
Massage parlours and holistic centres across the GTA from Oshawa to Mississauga were raided and dozens of people were questioned. The raids started at 5:30 p.m. and continued throughout the night.
But investigators were concerned when they arrived at some locations and found them closed, believing they might have been tipped off earlier in the day, Gillespie said. "That's the only troubling part of this operation," he said, adding they are looking into who alerted parlour owners.
Police were still tallying numbers early this morning but by midnight more than 100 bylaw charges were laid in Toronto and about 1,200 immigration checks were done.
Officers now face the problem of housing the kids who are too old for children's services and too young to be left on their own, Det. Stroble said.
"There is no infrastructure in place right now to house these girls so we have to stand by and watch them return to the streets," Stroble said, adding there were homeless shelters on standby willing to take the girls from last night's raids "because that's the only avenue we have."
Currently, the law only offers protection to kids up to 15 years old, so prostitutes who are 16 and 17 are falling through the cracks, Stroble said.
Police said they would do everything possible to return Jenny and Tammy to their parents in time for Christmas.
"Sometimes these girls need tough love to get them to turn their lives around," Stroble said. "It's almost like a cult. They are brainwashed into believing their pimps are taking care of them and then they are beaten into submission and held captive by the lifestyle.
"If we release them right away they end up right back where they started, but if we could hang onto them we could deprogram them and, in turn, help them."
Stroble hopes Ontario's new lawmakers recognize the importance of new legislation that would see massage-parlour owners face large fines if they were caught employing kids.
"If we learn that a child is being raped and exploited right now, we can't do anything about it until the courts open," Stroble said. "These kids need protection -- bottom line."
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun
She was shaking and nearly in tears when the police barged in on her having sex with a client inside a massage parlour in the city's northwest. The police had the same reaction when they discovered her age.
The young girl, whom we'll call Jenny, told the police she was 17 but the baby fat on her face and her innocent eyes made her look not a day over 15.
Police from Toronto, York, Peel and Durham Regions sprang into action last night, raiding 350 massage parlours in a massive joint operation code-named Project Home for Christmas.
RCMP, immigration and bylaw officers were also involved.
Jenny hopped on a bus with her 16-year-old best friend Tammy (also not her real name) from Kitchener two days ago with dreams of a glamorous life. But glamour is not what they found.
The girls had no money and no place to live, so they ended up at the Weston Rd. and Sheppard Ave. W. parlour, which was one of 350 raided.
"I came here to make money so I could go to school to be a hairdresser," Jenny said while she waited to be taken to a nearby police station and eventually moved to a safe house.
"I want to open a salon one day."
Jenny leaned her flushed face on her hands and stared off into space as officers asked her about a hotel room where she and her friend had been staying.
However, Jenny refused to answer and instead concentrated on her belongings, which included a new pair of sexy, strappy sandals.
"These kids should be opening presents, not condoms," said Det. Reuben Stroble, of Toronto Police's child exploitation unit.
The man Jenny was caught having sex with was charged with paying for sex with a minor. Her alleged pimp was later arrested in a York Region hotel and is facing charges.
"There is absolutely an underground sex-slave industry in Canada, no question," said Det.-Sgt. Paul Gillespie, head of the child exploitation unit, as he rounded up more than 200 officers divided into 32 teams for last night's strikes.
"This is the largest endeavour of its kind that has ever occurred in this country. What we are doing today will have a lot of impact on a lot of less fortunate people," Gillespie said.
Massage parlours and holistic centres across the GTA from Oshawa to Mississauga were raided and dozens of people were questioned. The raids started at 5:30 p.m. and continued throughout the night.
But investigators were concerned when they arrived at some locations and found them closed, believing they might have been tipped off earlier in the day, Gillespie said. "That's the only troubling part of this operation," he said, adding they are looking into who alerted parlour owners.
Police were still tallying numbers early this morning but by midnight more than 100 bylaw charges were laid in Toronto and about 1,200 immigration checks were done.
Officers now face the problem of housing the kids who are too old for children's services and too young to be left on their own, Det. Stroble said.
"There is no infrastructure in place right now to house these girls so we have to stand by and watch them return to the streets," Stroble said, adding there were homeless shelters on standby willing to take the girls from last night's raids "because that's the only avenue we have."
Currently, the law only offers protection to kids up to 15 years old, so prostitutes who are 16 and 17 are falling through the cracks, Stroble said.
Police said they would do everything possible to return Jenny and Tammy to their parents in time for Christmas.
"Sometimes these girls need tough love to get them to turn their lives around," Stroble said. "It's almost like a cult. They are brainwashed into believing their pimps are taking care of them and then they are beaten into submission and held captive by the lifestyle.
"If we release them right away they end up right back where they started, but if we could hang onto them we could deprogram them and, in turn, help them."
Stroble hopes Ontario's new lawmakers recognize the importance of new legislation that would see massage-parlour owners face large fines if they were caught employing kids.
"If we learn that a child is being raped and exploited right now, we can't do anything about it until the courts open," Stroble said. "These kids need protection -- bottom line."
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun
