Alleged leaders of decade-long interprovincial human trafficking operation arrested
Posted February 13, 2025 10:36 am.
Last Updated February 13, 2025 10:38 am.
Three men from Montreal accused of running a decade-long human trafficking operation across multiple Canadian provinces have been arrested.
Police in Alberta say a year-long investigation known as Project Endgame uncovered a network of sex trafficking in operation for more than 10 years throughout British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Quebec.
According to the human trafficking unit of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT), the accused forced the victims to “perform multiple sex acts on multiple clients every day.”
“If the victims question the traffickers or dispute the situation, they were often violently assaulted, degraded, and/or threatened of further loss, violence, and isolation,” ALERT said in a news release Thursday.
Project Endgame began in May 2023 after a 911 call allegedly detailed a sex worker being violently assaulted.
ALERT alleges the investigators saw the accused work in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, Grande Prairie, Fort McMurray, Cold Lake, Lloydminster and Estevan, Sask.
Arrests and search warrants took place in Edmonton, Montreal, and Red Deer.
Clyde Elien-Abbot, Kevin Dorcelus-Cetoute and Jean Rodnil Dubois, all aged 31, are facing a combined 23 charges. Some of those offences include trafficking in persons, sexual assault, money laundering and animal cruelty.
Elien-Abbot was arrested on Jan. 31 in Edmonton. He remains in custody and has a bail hearing scheduled for Feb. 19.
Dorcelus-Cetoute and Dubois were arrested July 23, 2024. They were released from custody and are scheduled to appear in court March 7.
“The investigation showed us that these targets are very violent,” said ALERT Staff Sgt. Chris Hayes. “They’re willing to do almost anything to the victims to keep control of them and preyed on their vulnerabilities and weaknesses.”
Authorities believe there may be additional victims and are encouraging them to contact police.
ALERT investigators were assisted by the Edmonton Police Service, RCMP, Montreal police, and the Quebec joint forces anti-pimping team known as EILP (Escouade intégrée de lutte contre le proxénétisme).
