10 men charged in Moncton sex-trade crackdown enter pleas
Several men arrested for trying to solicit sex appeared in a Moncton court Wednesday.
Ten men were charged as part of an ongoing effort by Codiac RCMP to control sex trade activities.
Four of them pleaded guilty and were sentenced. Three pleaded not guilty and face a trial and the remaining three men asked for adjournments and were not present in court.
The four who pleaded guilty were sentenced to six months probation and ordered to donate $250 to Crossroads for Women, an advocacy group that helps women living with family violence.
All 10 men — ranging in age from 21 to 63 years old — were arrested in a Codiac RCMP operation on Aug. 30. During the crackdown, a female officer posed as a sex worker on Dufferin Street in downtown Moncton.
The men approached the undercover officer, offering cash in exchange for a oral sex.
In July, 11 sex trade workers were arrested in the same area.
The RCMP say the operations are a way to deal with continuing sex trade activities.
“We received, not necessarily formal complaints, but we receive communications from the public on a regular basis advising us that for them it is an issue in different sectors of the town and requesting our assistance on that,” said Const. Damien Thériault.
Some who live on Dufferin Street say since the RCMP made the arrests, they are seeing fewer johns and prostitutes in the area.
Police are working on an initiative to address the issues of the sex trade
