VANCOUVER – A Vancouver man accused of running a teen prostitution ring has now been convicted of 30 charges including sexual offences and prostitution.
Reza Moazami faced 36 criminal charges and was accused of luring girls as young as 14 into prostitution. Nine of the girls were underage at the time of the offences.
The 11 girls that Moazami had working for him operated out of downtown Vancouver apartments and hotels across B.C. and Alberta.
Moazami was arrested in a Vancouver bawdy house three years ago and had originally pleaded not guilty to the charges.
He was found guilty of a human trafficking charge, which Crown says is very rare.
“The terms of the section are such that it’s a very difficult charge to prove,” says Kristin Bryson, Crown counsel. There have been some convictions in Ontario and Quebec, but this is the first one in B.C.
Moazami has the opportunity to appeal and Crown says they expect him to appeal the convictions.
“It is rare that men are held accountable by the criminal justice system for sexual assault and the exploitation of women and girls,” says Hilla Kerner, spokeswoman for Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter, in a press release. “Even in this case, the men who paid Moazami for the girls, the men who raped these girls—the johns—were not charged.”
His sentencing has been put over until Dec. 9.
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