Sudbury woman, 19, rescued from sex trade

A Sudbury police officer says a 19-year-old woman was rescued from the sex trade in the city in a recent blitz on human trafficking.

Staff Sergeant Jordan Buchanan said a 45-year-old Sudbury man was charged with trafficking in persons in connection with the two-day, province-wide blitz.

The investigation was complicated and involved many police services, he said.

"There weren't a lot of these charges laid in the province because of the complexity of those charges, so Sudbury did very well on this project."

Changes to the Criminal Code have stiffened penalties and shifted the charges from the sex trade workers to pimps and johns.

Elsewhere in Ontario, two other people are facing more than a dozen different charges, including recruiting a person under 18 to provide sexual services, as well as trafficking in persons under 18. A total of 54 charges were laid overall across the province.

Buchanan said the man arrested in Sudbury was also charged with administering a noxious thing, and material benefit from trafficking in persons. He's to appear in bail court on Friday morning.

The sex trade workers themselves are not facing charges.

"Charges now refer to either the persons who are using the people that are committing the acts of prostitution or people partaking of those services," Buchanan said.